Redispersible 3D printed nanomedicines: An original application of the semisolid extrusion technique

Bioadhesive 3D-Printed Skin Drug Delivery Polymeric Films: From the Drug Loading in Mesoporous Silica to the Manufacturing Process

“…The difference in these properties compared to the hydrogel proposed here could be attributed to the lower concentration of CMC in the semisolid (5% versus 2.5%), as well as the presence of pectin in our hydrogel. The results can be translated to the printing behaviour and printing parameters of the two hydrogels: the hydrogel proposed by de Oliveira et al (2022) [ 20 ] was able to print objects with a height of 2.5 mm, whereas films higher than 2 mm tended to collapse in our study. A similar behaviour was observed for the forward extrusion analysis ( Figure 5 e), where no difference in the firmness shown by the two inks was evidenced (HG-MSN-CP and HG), although the results were lower than the findings reported by Oliveira et al (2022) [ 20 ] for an ink composed of CMC only.…”

“…No difference ( p > 0.05) was observed between the behaviour of the two formulations (HG-MSN-CP and HG), showing that the MSN-CP do not influence these properties. Recently, higher firmness, consistency, cohesiveness and index of viscosity values were reported for a hydrogel ink composed of CMC and glycerine only [ 20 ]. The difference in these properties compared to the hydrogel proposed here could be attributed to the lower concentration of CMC in the semisolid (5% versus 2.5%), as well as the presence of pectin in our hydrogel.…”

“…Moreover, 3D printing also enables a reproducible solvent-free process that can not be achieved by conventional methods such as solvent casting and electrospinning, which have poor shape reproducibility and can result in organic solvent residues in the final dosage form (Ghofrani et al 2022). Given this reasoning, our group has been exploring the alliance between drug-loaded nanomaterials and 3D printing, to improve the physicochemical and biopharmaceutical properties of such 3D-printed dosage forms [ 18 ] as oral [ 19 , 20 ] and buccal drug delivery systems [ 21 ]. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is a lack of studies proposing the use of the alliance between MSNs and 3D printing as a suitable approach to formulate mucoadhesive and hydrophilic 3D-printed polymeric films for skin delivery.…”

“…Semisolid extrusion (SSE) has been gaining popularity as a 3D printing technique in pharmaceutics in the last years, due to its versatility, the possibility of using it at low temperatures, the blending of different polymers to provide specific features to the formulation, and the easy modulation of the semisolids’ properties, among others [ 18 , 20 ]. Carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), a well-known polymer with good rheological properties, was previously reported by our group as a suitable polymer to prepare printable inks containing organic nanomaterials [ 20 ]. However, in the development of skin delivery films, the bioadhesion properties must be enhanced.…”

3D printing of pharmaceuticals for disease treatment

“…Semisolid extrusion is a 3D printing method carried out at room temperature that produces objects or devices out of gels or pastes. The re-dispersible formulations contain drug-loaded polymeric nano capsules inside a hydrogel for drug delivery applications ( 15 ). Effervescent tablets are another kind of medication that delivers the drug.…”