@article{NPC02,

title = {Modeling of the behavior of natural polysaccharides hydrogels for bio-pharma applications},

author = {Diego Caccavo and Sara Cascone and Gaetano Lamberti and Annalisa Dalmoro and Anna Angela Barba},

url = {http://www.naturalproduct.us/index.asp

https://www.gruppotpp.it/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Caccavo-et-al-NPC-126-867-871-2017-Abstract.pdf},

issn = {1934-578X},

year  = {2017},

date = {2017-07-31},

journal = {Natural Product Communications},

volume = {12},

number = {6},

pages = {867-871},

abstract = {Hydrogels, even if not exclusively obtained from natural sources, are widely used for pharmaceuticals and for biomedical applications. The reasons for their uses are their biocompatibility and the possibility to obtain systems and devices with different properties, due to variable characteristics of the materials. In order to effectively design and produce these systems and devices, two main ways are available: i) trial-and-error process, at least guided by experience, during which the composition of the system and the production steps are changed in order to get the desired behavior; ii) production process guided by the a-priori simulation of the systems’ behavior, thanks to proper tuned mathematical models of the reality. Of course the second approach, when applicable, allows tremendous savings in term of human and instrumental resources.

In this mini-review, several modeling approaches useful to describe the behavior of natural polysaccharide-based hydrogels in bio-pharma applications are reported. In particular, reported case histories are: i) the size calculation of micro-particles obtained by ultrasound assisted atomization; ii) the release kinetics from core-shell micro-particles, iii) the solidification behavior of blends of synthetic and natural polymers for gel paving of blood vessels, iv) the drug release from hydrogel-based tablets. This material can be seen as a guide toward the use of mathematical modeling in bio-pharma applications. 

},

keywords = {Hydrogel Characterization, Hydrogel Modeling, Hydrogels, Mathematical modeling, Modeling},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{Dalmoro2016b,

title = { Injectable chitosan/b-glycerophosphate system for sustained release: gelation study, structural investigation and erosion tests},

author = {Annalisa Dalmoro and Michela Abrami and Barbara Galzerano and Sabrina Bochicchio and Anna Angela Barba and Mario Grassi and Domenico Larobina},

url = {https://www.gruppotpp.it/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/06.-Dalmoro-et-al-CDD-142-216-223-2017.pdf



http://benthamscience.com/journals/current-drug-delivery/volume/14/issue/2/page/216/



},

doi = {10.2174/1567201813666160721142202},

year  = {2017},

date = {2017-02-08},

issuetitle = {NEW TRENDS IN GENE THERAPY: MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACHES TO SIRNAS CONTROLLED DELIVERY},

journal = {Current Drug Delivery},

volume = {14},

number = {2},

pages = {216 - 223},

abstract = {Hydrogels can constitute reliable delivery systems of drugs, including those based on nucleic acids (NABDs) such as small interfering ribonucleic acid (siRNA). Their nature, structure, and response to physiological or external stimuli strongly influence the delivery mechanisms of entrapped active molecules, and, in turns, their possible uses in pharmacological and biomedical applications. In this study a thermo-gelling chitosan/β-glycero-phosphate system has been optimized in order to assess its use as injectable system able to: i) gelling at physiological pH and temperature, and ii) modulate the release of included active ingredients. To this aim we first analyzed the effect of acetic acid concentration on the gelation temperature. We then found the “optimized composition”, namely, the one in which the Tgel is equal to the physiological temperature. The resulting gel was tested, by low field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR), to evaluate its average mesh-size, which can affect release kinetics of loaded drug. Finally, films of gelled chitosan, loaded with a model drug, have been tested in vitro to monitor their characteristic times, i.e. diffusion and erosion time, when they are exposed to a medium mimicking a physiological environment (buffer solution at pH 7.4). Results display that the optimized system is deemed to be an ideal candidate as injectable gelling material for a sustained release.},

keywords = {Hydrogel Characterization},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{Dalmoro2012a,

title = {Pharmaceutical applications of biocompatible polymer blends containing sodium alginate},

author = { Annalisa Dalmoro and Anna Angela Barba and Gaetano Lamberti and Mario Grassi and Matteo D'Amore},

url = {http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/adv.21276},

doi = {10.1002/adv.21276},

issn = {07306679},

year  = {2012},

date = {2012-09-01},

journal = {Advances in Polymer Technology},

volume = {31},

number = {3},

pages = {219--230},

publisher = {Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company},

abstract = {Biocompatible polymer blends, such as alginate blends, have a widespread use in pharmaceutical and medical applications due to their specific features, such as biodegradation, adhesiveness, and thermo- and pH sensitivity and that can be obtained from the mixture composition. In this work, the use of alginate blends was tested in a novel production methodology of therapeutic dosage forms based on polymeric chain reticulation phenomena induced by exposure to bivalent ions. Two kinds of sodium alginate were used to obtain gel films (structured films) in blends with Pluronic F127®. The blends were considered for applications in gel paving of drug-eluting stents. Sodium alginate was also used in shell\textendashcore particle production (structured particles) to obtain shell-barrier reducing drug release in the preparative steps (see wash operations). Both structures, films and particles, were obtained using Cu2+ and Ca2+ ions, respectively. Film/shell barrier properties were tested in dissolution experiments using vitamin B12 as an active molecule model. Experimental work demonstrated that the alginate composition is a crucial point in defining reticulated structures.},

keywords = {Alginate gel film, Alginate shell{\textendash}core particles, Biocompatibility, Crosslinking, Hydrogel Characterization, Hydrogels, Micro and Nano Vectors},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{Barba2009a,

title = {Simultaneous measurement of theophylline and cellulose acetate phthalate in phosphate buffer by UV analysis},

author = { Anna Angela Barba and Serafina Chirico and Annalisa Dalmoro and Gaetano Lamberti},

year  = {2009},

date = {2009-01-01},

journal = {Can J Anal Sci Spectros},

volume = {53},

number = {6},

pages = {249--253},

abstract = {The oral administration of pH-sensitive drugs requires protecting the drug molecules from the acidic pH in the stomach: the simplest way is to use polymers as coating, especially polymers which are insoluble at low pH (in the stomach) and soluble under neutral conditions (in the intestine). The Cellulose Acetate Phosphate, CAP, is one of these polymers, and it is one of the most used coating polymers. Studies related to the behavior of such pharmaceutical systems require fast and accurate methods to assay the released drug concentration in dissolution medium. However, both the drug and the coating polymer are present in the dissolution bulk with unknown concentration, and they can interfere each other in assaying. In this communication, a simple method to assay, by UV analysis, Theophylline (TP) and Cellulose Acetate Phosphate concentrations in a dissolution medium, phosphate buffer pH 7.0 (BP), is proposed and validated.},

keywords = {Hydrogel Characterization},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{Chirico2007,

title = {Analysis and modeling of swelling and erosion behavior for pure HPMC tablet},

author = { Serafina Chirico and Annalisa Dalmoro and Gaetano Lamberti and Giuseppina Russo and Giuseppe Titomanlio},

url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168365907003215},

doi = {10.1016/j.jconrel.2007.07.001},

issn = {01683659},

year  = {2007},

date = {2007-09-01},

journal = {Journal of Controlled Release},

volume = {122},

number = {2},

pages = {181--188},

abstract = {This work is focused on the transport phenomena which take place during immersion in water of pure hydroxypropylmethylcellulose tablets. The water uptake, the swelling and the erosion during immersion were investigated in drug-free systems, as a preliminary task before to undertake the study of drug-loaded ones. The tablets, obtained by powder compression, were confined between glass slabs to allow water uptake only by lateral surface and then immersed in distilled water at 37 °C, with simultaneous video-recording. By image analysis the normalized light intensity profiles were obtained and taken as a measure of the water mass fraction. The time evolutions of the total tablet mass, of the water mass and of the erosion radius were measured, too. Thus a novel method to measure polymer and water masses during hydration was pointed out. Then, a model consisting in the transient mass balance, accounting for water diffusion, diffusivity change due to hydration, swelling and erosion, was found able to reproduce all experimental data. Even if the model was already used in literature, the novelty of our approach is to compare model predictions with a complete set of experimental data, confirming that the main phenomena were correctly identified and described.},

keywords = {Controlled drug release, Erosion, HPMC, Hydrogel Characterization, Hydrogel Modeling, Swelling},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}