CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Respiratory diseases are very common and affect a large part of the population worldwide. The key for the enhancement of efficiency of treatments is that therapeutic agents reach the target lung tissue. In order to achieve this, barriers such as lung architecture, defense mechanisms and mucus must be overcome. Mucus is a viscoelastic gel that protects the respiratory tract. Mucolytic agents break down the gel structure of mucus and decrease its elasticity and viscosity. Moreover, lungs are covered with a surfactant layer, which main component is DPPC (dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphatidylcholine); other minor components are PMPC (1-palmitoyl-2-myristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine) and POPC (1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine). Based on this, the aim of this work was the development of mucolytic transporters, which encapsulated the mucolytics dornase alpha and L-cysteine. In order to improve interaction of these transporters with lung tissue, liposome formulations were composed of phospholipids present in the surfactant layer. To carry out this work, liposomes were obtained by the dehydration/rehydration method and were combined with the different mucolytics. Large unilamellar vesicles were obtained by passing the mixture 15 times through an extruder (Transferra Nanosciences Inc.). Particle size of the different formulations was determined in a ZetaPlus Particle Sizing (Brookhaven Instruments Corp).Currently, citotoxicity of the formulations is being assessed in A549 cells, which are used as an in-vitro model of the alveolar ephitelial type II cells, and in primary cell culture of mice lung.