Designing Hydrogels for Controlled for Drug Designing Hydrogels Delivery • Sonia Trombino and Roberta • Sonia Trombino Cassano Designing Hydrogels for Controlled Drug Delivery Edited by Sonia Trombino and Roberta Cassano Printed Edition of the Special Issue Published in Pharmaceutics www.mdpi.com/journal/pharmaceutics Designing Hydrogels for Controlled Drug Delivery Designing Hydrogels for Controlled Drug Delivery Special Issue Editors Sonia Trombino Roberta Cassano MDPI • Basel • Beijing • Wuhan • Barcelona • Belgrade • Manchester • Tokyo • Cluj • Tianjin Special Issue Editors Sonia Trombino Roberta Cassano University of Calabria University of Calabria Italy Italy Editorial Office MDPI St. Alban-Anlage 66 4052 Basel, Switzerland This is a reprint of articles from the Special Issue published online in the open access journal Pharmaceutics (ISSN 1999-4923) (available at: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/pharmaceutics/ special issues/Hydrogels Drug Delivery). For citation purposes, cite each article independently as indicated on the article page online and as indicated below: LastName, A.A.; LastName, B.B.; LastName, C.C. Article Title. Journal Name Year, Article Number, Page Range. ISBN 978-3-03928-356-9 (Pbk) ISBN 978-3-03928-357-6 (PDF) c 2020 by the authors. Articles in this book are Open Access and distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which allows users to download, copy and build upon published articles, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our publications. The book as a whole is distributed by MDPI under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND. Contents About the Special Issue Editors ..................................... vii Preface to ”Designing Hydrogels for Controlled Drug Delivery” .................. ix Sonia Trombino and Roberta Cassano Special Issue on Designing Hydrogels for Controlled Drug Delivery: Guest Editors’ Introduction Reprinted from: Pharmaceutics 2020, 12, 57, doi:10.3390/pharmaceutics12010057 .......... 1 Franklin Afinjuomo, Paris Fouladian, Ankit Parikh, Thomas G. Barclay, Yunmei Song and Sanjay Garg Preparation and Characterization of Oxidized Inulin Hydrogel for Controlled Drug Delivery Reprinted from: Pharmaceutics 2019, 11, 356, doi:10.3390/pharmaceutics11070356 ......... 5 Maria Cristina Cardia, Anna Rosa Carta, Pierluigi Caboni, Anna Maria Maccioni, Sara Erb`ı, Laura Boi, Maria Cristina Meloni, Francesco Lai and Chiara Sinico Trimethyl Chitosan Hydrogel Nanoparticles for Progesterone Delivery in Neurodegenerative Disorders Reprinted from: Pharmaceutics 2019, 11, 657, doi:10.3390/pharmaceutics11120657 ......... 27 Angela Fabiano, Anna Maria Piras, Lorenzo Guazzelli, Barbara Storti, Ranieri Bizzarri and Ylenia Zambito Impact of Different Mucoadhesive Polymeric Nanoparticles Loaded in Thermosensitive Hydrogels on Transcorneal Administration of 5-Fluorouracil Reprinted from: Pharmaceutics 2019, 11, 623, doi:10.3390/pharmaceutics11120623 ......... 39 Hsiu-Chao Lin, Madonna Rica Anggelia, Chih-Chi Cheng, Kuan-Lin Ku, Hui-Yun Cheng, Chih-Jen Wen, Aline Yen Ling Wang, Cheng-Hung Lin and I-Ming Chu A Mixed Thermosensitive Hydrogel System for Sustained Delivery of Tacrolimus for Immunosuppressive Therapy Reprinted from: Pharmaceutics 2019, 11, 413, doi:10.3390/pharmaceutics11080413 ......... 55 Narsimha Mamidi, Aldo Gonz´alez-Ortiz, Irasema Lopez Romo and Enrique V. Barrera Development of Functionalized Carbon Nano-Onions Reinforced Zein Protein Hydrogel Interfaces for Controlled Drug Release Reprinted from: Pharmaceutics 2019, 11, 621, doi:10.3390/pharmaceutics11120621 ......... 67 Saeid Mezail Mawazi, Sinan Mohammed Abdullah Al-Mahmood, Bappaditya Chatterjee, Hazrina AB. Hadi and Abd Almonem Doolaanea Carbamazepine Gel Formulation as a Sustained Release Epilepsy Medication for Pediatric Use Reprinted from: Pharmaceutics 2019, 11, 488, doi:10.3390/pharmaceutics11100488 ......... 83 Eleonora Russo and Carla Villa Poloxamer Hydrogels for Biomedical Applications Reprinted from: Pharmaceutics 2019, 11, 671, doi:10.3390/pharmaceutics11120671 ......... 97 Eleonora Russo and Carla Villa Poloxamer Hydrogels for Biomedical Applications Reprinted from: Pharmaceutics 2019, 11, 671, doi:10.3390/pharmaceutics11120671 .........115 v Sonia Trombino, Camilla Servidio, Federica Curcio and Roberta Cassano Strategies for Hyaluronic Acid-Based Hydrogel Design in Drug Delivery Reprinted from: Pharmaceutics 2019, 11, 407, doi:10.3390/pharmaceutics11080407 .........133 vi About the Special Issue Editors Sonia Trombino graduated in Pharmacy at the University of Calabria (Italy) in 1998 where, five years later, she also specialized in Clinical Pathology. From 2006 to 2016, she was a researcher in pharmaceutical technology, and, from 2016 onward, has been an associate professor in the Department of Pharmacy and Health and Nutrition Sciences at the same university. Her research activities include: drug delivery systems (DDS), biomaterials, multifunctional carriers, micro- and nano-particles, pro-drugs, polymeric matrices, natural fibers, antioxidants, membranes, and liquid crystals. Sonia Trombino is author or coauthor of 77 publications in international journals with good or excellent diffusion, 8 reviews published in books, and 65 conference proceedings. Roberta Cassano graduated in Chemistry at the University of Calabria (Italy) in 2000 and where, five years later, she also obtained her Ph.D in Science and Technology of Mesophases and Molecular Materials. From 2010 to 2019, she was a researcher in pharmaceutical technology, and is an associate professor in the Department of Pharmacy and Health and Nutrition Sciences at the same university. Her research activities involve: drug delivery systems (DDS), biomaterials, multifunctional carriers, micro- and nano-particles, pro-drugs, polymeric matrices, natural fibers, antioxidants, membranes, and liquid crystals. Roberta Cassano is the author or coauthor of 66 publications in international journals with good or excellent diffusion, 12 reviews published in books, and 70 conference proceedings. vii Preface to ”Designing Hydrogels for Controlled Drug Delivery” Hydrogels are interesting materials for pharmaceutical application and are particularly useful as drug delivery systems because they are biocompatible and nontoxic. They consist of three-dimensional, hydrophilic, and polymeric networks capable of absorbing large quantities of water or biological fluids in the presence of hydrophilic groups and releasing the drugs entrapped in them through slow diffusion. According to their features, they can be natural or synthetic and classified as neutral or ionic hydrogels, whereas the network can be composed of linear homopolymers, linear copolymers, and block or graft copolymers. Hydrogels provide a spatial and temporal control of various therapeutic agents, including both small molecules and macromolecular drugs. They possess modulable physical properties and the capability to protect labile drugs from degradation, controlling their release. The purpose of this Special Issue book is provide an overview of recent advances in delivery of drugs using synthetic or natural hydrogels highlighting, through research articles and reviews, the significant role of these materials in the pharmaceutical field. Sonia Trombino, Roberta Cassano Special Issue Editors ix pharmaceutics Editorial Special Issue on Designing Hydrogels for Controlled Drug Delivery: Guest Editors’ Introduction Sonia Trombino * and Roberta Cassano * Department of Pharmacy and Health and Nutrition Sciences, University of Calabria, Arcavacata di Rende, 87036 Cosenza, Italy * Correspondence: [email protected] (S.T.); [email protected] (R.C.); Tel.: +39-984-493203 (S.T.); +39-984-493227 (R.C.) Received: 7 January 2020; Accepted: 8 January 2020; Published: 10 January 2020 Hydrogels have received growing attention in recent years as materials for drug delivery systems (DDS), because they are biocompatible and nontoxic. They consist of three-dimensional, hydrophilic, polymeric networks capable of imbibing large quantities of water or biological fluids, due to the presence of hydrophilic groups, and releasing the drugs entrapped in them through slow diffusion. According to their features, they can be natural or synthetic and classified as neutral or ionic hydrogels, while the network can be made up of linear homopolymers, linear copolymers, and block or graft copolymers. Hydrogels can provide a spatial and temporal control over the release of various therapeutic agents, including both small molecules and macromolecular drugs. They possess modulable physical properties and the capability to protect labile drugs from degradation controlling their release. This special issue fits into this context and has the aim of describing, through seven research papers and two review articles, recent studies concerning the design, preparation and evaluation of the performance of hydrogels for the controlled delivery of drugs. In the first article Cesar Torres-Luna and collaboarators evaluated the in vitro release of diclofenac sodium, an anionic drug useful for the treatment of pain and eye inflammation, from contact lenses based on poly-2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate hydrogels containing an embedded microemulsion. In particular, the aim of the work was to extend the release duration of the diclofenac sodium [1]. The oil in water microemulsion systems were prepared with two non-ionic surfactants, Brij 97 or Tween 80