Polysaccharide Cryogels Containing β-Cyclodextrin for the Delivery of Cannabidiol

Abstract

Cannabidiol (CBD) has attracted increasing interest due to its therapeutic potential for treating numerous diseases. However, CBD is very lipophilic and has very unfavorable pharmacokinetics and low bioavailability. Efforts are focused on developing drug delivery systems for enhanced solubilization and therapeutic activity of CBD. Here, we report the preparation of original super-macroporous cryogels from 2-hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC) and β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) designed for the topical delivery of CBD. The cryogels were synthesized by photochemical crosslinking in a frozen aqueous system, purified, and then loaded with CBD. The effect of HEC/β-CD mass ratio (100:0; 50:50; 40:60 and 20:80) in the reaction mixture on the reaction efficiency, physico-mechanical properties of cryogels, drug release profile, and antineoplastic potential were evaluated in detail. The cryogels showed a bi-phasic release behavior: initial burst release in the first 3 hours followed by slower drug release which can be beneficial in the treatment of cutaneous neoplastic diseases.

Sponge-like macroporous cyclodextrin-based cryogels for controlled drug delivery

“…This behavior may be beneficial in wound healing and burn skin applications, as the system will readily deliver LOM and PIR, preventing infections or inflammation. 64…”

Dextrin-Based Nanohydrogels for Rokitamycin Prolonged Topical Delivery

“…The presence of cyclodextrin units within the nanogel structure can promote the hydrophobic drug incorporation [ 24 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ]. β-CD nanosponges (NSs) are chemically crosslinked polymers that have many attractive features for use as hydrogels.…”

The Transdermal Delivery of Therapeutic Cannabinoids

“…The aqueous layers of the skin's tissue beneath the stratum corneum present a rate-limiting step for hydrophobic cannabinoid diffusion [118,119]. Thus, in recent years, several nano-systems were proposed for the topical-and systemic-controlled delivery of cannabinoids, including micellar, liposomal, and nanosized formulations [120], as well as microemulgel [113], nano-emulsions [105,113], dendrimers, and polymeric nanoparticles [96,109,110,112]. Nanoconjugation or nano-encapsulation, as passive strategies, showed a promising potential in the transdermal delivery of cannabinoids to enhance their bioavailability, safety, stability, efficacy, and also to avoid the fluctuation of plasma cannabinoid concentrations during the treatment period, which is encountered in conventional routs of delivery [52,63,121,122].…”

“…A super-macroporous cryogels containing CBD was fabricated using 2-hydroxyethyl cellulose and β-cyclodextrin for the treatment of various skin malignancies. The fabricated matrixes showed high drug encapsulation efficiency (100%), with bi-phasic release profiles (immediate release within 3 h followed by sustained CBD release over 24 h. The formulated CBD showed concentration-dependent cytotoxicity against two human tumour cell lines, MJ (cutaneous T-cell lymphoma) and HUT-78 (Sezary Syndrome) [109]. In another study by this group, CBD-loaded polymeric micelles were embedded into biodegradable 2-hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC), which showed sustained CBD released profiles in vitro and preserved the anticancer activity the drug [110].…”