Study of pharmacotechnical parameters for nanostructuring of doxycycline encapsulated with PLGA and stabilized by surfactants

• Grant number: 23/03298-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2023
• End date: September 01, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Pharmacy - Pharmaceutical Technology
• Principal Investigator: Laura de Oliveira Nascimento
• Grantee: Rafaela Nanini Figueiredo
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas (FCF). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/16768-0 - PLGA nanoparticles through microfluidics based on 3D microchips to deliver doxycycline, BE.EP.IC

Abstract

Pneumonia is a pathology that can be caused by bacteria, viruses or fungi, which infect the alveolar tissues, compromising the patient's breathing through increased mucus secretion, which makes gas exchange difficult. This clinical condition has great relevance in Brazil and in the world, representing eighteen percent of the cause of death in children, according to the World Health Organization. The treatment still has numerous limitations, either because of the difficult identification of the pathological agent or because of the widespread bacterial resistance to antimicrobials. In this context, one of the drugs that can be prescribed is doxycycline: a broad-spectrum drug that acts to inhibit the synthesis of bacterial proteins by binding to the ribosome of these microorganisms. Thus, in view of the relevance of this drug in pulmonary infections, there is a need to produce new formulations that minimize systemic adverse reactions and ensure better therapy, raising the importance of PLGA nanoparticles, nanometric structures with polymer synthetic that stands out for its toxicological safety and biocompatibility characteristics. Such formulations have the function of carrying the active principle to the site of action, releasing the drug in a controlled manner, however, DOX is composed of polar molecules, in other words, hydrophilic, and, for this reason, when producing the nanostructures by the technique of nanoprecipitation, a low encapsulation efficiency of the drug is obtained, which has greater affinity to the external aqueous phase. Thus, the project in question aims to establish methods so that there is a higher rate of internalization of the drug in the nanoparticle, through punctual changes in the formulations, with the change of solvent and/or addition of salts to the aqueous phase. The products formed will be analyzed according to their physicochemical characteristics, such as particle size and concentration, structure and interactions.