Exploitable results Biodegradable and resorbable polymeric coatings for drug delivery Drug targeting using polymeric microspheres injected into the blood circulation could have considerable impact in many disease conditions, especially cancer chemotherapy. The project aims to develop novel biodegradable polymeric coating agents based upon polyesters, polyamines and polyethers that will be absorbed or grafted to drug loaded microspheres. The chosen polymer will cause particles injected into the blood to remain in the circulation (and thus to avoid deposition at undesired sites such as the resident macrophages in liver) or to be targeted passively to the bone marrow. Coated particles carrying attached homing moieties in the form of sugar residues or monoclonal antibodies will be developed for active targeting opportunities. Biodegradable and bioresorbable polymers suitable for the coating of preformed carrier particles have been synthesised. They include polylactide, polycoglycolide, polymalic acid derivatives, poly L-lysine citramide and modified polyamidoamines. Emulsification techniques have been used for the preparation of polylactide, polycoglycolide and albumin microspheres of sizes of 100nm and 1000nm. Biodegradation studies on related particle samples have commenced, and chemical procedures for the coupling of polyoxyethylene groups onto linear serum albumin have been developed. Diagnostic secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) spectra of coating polymers and particles have been obtained as background to the surface analysis of coated systems. Biomedical applications of particle engineering Colloidal particles have been surface modified with polymeric materials in order to optimize their targeting to defined body sites after injection. These sites include the general circulation, site of inflammation, tumours and endothelial cells. Particles injected subcutaneously are able to migrate to the regional lymph nodes in large quantities. The technology is applicable to colloidal carriers used for drug delivery, vaccines and diagnostic purposes. Development of resorbable biodegradable polymers for the preparation of coated particles for drug delivery Drug targeting using polymeric microspheres injected into the circulating blood could have considerable impact in many disease conditions, especially cancer chemotherapy. Biodegradable and bioresorbable polymers suitable for the coating of preformed carrier particles have been synthesised. They include poly(lactide coglycolide), polymalic acid derivatives, poly L-lysine citramide and modified polyamidoamines. Emulsification techniques have been used for the preparation of poly(lactide coglycolide) and albumin microspheres of sizes of 100 nm and 1000 nm and biodegradation studies on related particle samples have commenced. Chemical procedures for the coupling of polyoxyethylene groups onto linear serum albumin have been developed. Diagnostic secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) spectra of coating polymers and particles have been obtained as background to the surface analysis of coated systems. A chosen polymer will cause particles injected into the blood to remain in the circulation (and thus to avoid deposition at undesired sites such as the resident macrophages in liver) or to be targeted passively to the bone marrow. Coated particles carrying attached homing moieties in the form of sugar residues or monoclonal antibodies will be developed for active targeting opportunities. Particles prepared from polylactide coglycolide demonstrated high loading of polypeptides that were released slowly over a 30 day period. Carrier systems for application in gene therapy Some novel polymer materials have been prepared that show beneficial properties in terms of their interaction with deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). These polymers should permit the better delivery of the products of biotechnology with special reference to antisense agents and gene therapy. Searching for OpenAIRE data... There was an error trying to search data from OpenAIRE No results available
