Incorporating Uncharged Therapeutics in Polyelectrolyte Multilayer Utilizing Cyclodextrins Carriers

2007 MIT Summer Research Program

Faculty Mentor: Professor Paula Hammond

Department of Chemical Engineering

Lab Supervisor: Renée Smith, Graduate Student

Department of Health Sciences and Technology

While the advent of prosthetic implants has improved the treatment of medical disorders, these devices are associated with high morbidity. To this extent, combination devices have been developed to reduce postoperative complications by offering sustained drug release at the pathological site. Layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly, a process used to create nanoscale, conformal films via electrostatic interactions, represents a versatile approach for the creation of drug delivery coatings for medical prostheses. However, LbL is limited to molecules with sufficient charge density to form films. Work, herein, focused on the utilization of cyclodextrins as charged carriers for neutral therapeutics. Construction and degradation of films containing a biodegradable polymer and the cyclodextrins, Sulfobutylether β-cyclodextrin (SBE7) and Carboxymethyl β-cyclodextrin polymer (BCD), were investigated. We pioneered in successfully building films with polymeric BCD molecules with highly controlled degradations. Cyclodextrin's ability to act as carriers for various therapeutics were examined by monitoring the incorporation and release of ciprofloxacin, dexamethasone and prodan. The incorporation of cyclodextrin-drug conjugates into LbL films and the ability of the BCD polymeric molecules to construct stable films, represents a significant advance towards the utilization of LbL and cyclodextrins in combination devices.