Controlled bioactive delivery using degradable electroactive polymers

ASHTON, MARK D.; COOPER, PATRICIA A.; MUNICOY SOFIA; DESIMONE MARTIN F; CHENELER, DAVID ; SHNYDER, STEVEN D. ; HARDY, JOHN G.

BIOMACROMOLECULES

AMER CHEMICAL SOC

Lugar: Washington; Año: 2022

1525-7797

Biomaterials capable of precisely controlling the delivery of drugs offer significant opportunities for economic, health and societal impacts (e.g., automated delivery of drugs to alleviate issues regarding patient compliance). A variety of economic, regulatory, social, and technical challenges exist to the translation of such materials to the clinic, necessitating biomaterial development in accordance with ?safe by design? principles. Here we report the development of degradable electroactive polymers and their application for the controlled delivery of a clinically relevant drug (the anti-inflammatory dexamethasone phosphate, DMP). Electroactive copolymers composed of blocks of polycaprolactone (PCL) and naturally occurring electroactive pyrrole oligomers (e.g., bilirubin, biliverdin and hemin) prepared using a simple and scalable synthesis. The polyesters were solution processed to produce flexible films (optionally doped with DMP); in silico/vitro/vivo studies were used to assess the cytocompatibility of the polymers. The release of DMP in response to the application of an electrical stimulus was observed to be enhanced by circa (ca.) 10?30% relative to the passive release from non-stimulated samples in vitro. Such stimuli-responsive biomaterials have the potential for inte-gration devices capable of delivering a variety of bioactive molecules (e.g., agrochemicals, drugs, fragrances, etc.).