An Investigation into Mechanical Properties and Printability of Potential Substrates for Inkjet Printing of Orodispersible Films

Inkjet Printing of Pharmaceuticals

Inkjet printing (IJP) is an additive manufacturing process that selectively deposits ink materials, layer-by-layer, to create 3D objects or 2D patterns with precise control over their structure and composition. This technology has emerged as an attractive and versatile approach to address the ever-evolving demands of personalized medicine in the healthcare industry. Although originally developed for nonhealthcare applications, IJP harnesses the potential of pharma-inks, which are meticulously formulated inks containing drugs and pharmaceutical excipients. Delving into the formulation and components of pharma-inks, the key to precise and adaptable material deposition enabled by IJP is unraveled. The review extends its focus to substrate materials, including paper, films, foams, lenses, and 3D-printed materials, showcasing their diverse advantages, while exploring a wide spectrum of therapeutic applications. Additionally, the potential benefits of hardware and software improvements, along with artificial intelligence integration, are discussed to enhance IJP's precision and efficiency. Embracing these advancements, IJP holds immense potential to reshape traditional medicine manufacturing processes, ushering in an era of medical precision. However, further exploration and optimization are needed to fully utilize IJP's healthcare capabilities. As researchers push the boundaries of IJP, the vision of patient-specific treatment is on the horizon of becoming a tangible reality.

A Versatile Photocrosslinkable Silicone Composite for 3D Printing Applications

Embedded printing has emerged as a valuable tool for fabricating complex structures and microfluidic devices. Currently, an ample of amount of research is going on to develop new materials to advance its capabilities and increase its potential applications. Here, we demonstrate a novel, transparent, printable, photocrosslinkable, and tuneable silicone composite that can be utilized as a support bath or an extrudable ink for embedded printing. Its properties can be tuned to achieve ideal rheological properties, such as optimal self-recovery and yield stress, for use in 3D printing. When used as a support bath, it facilitated the generation microfluidic devices with circular channels of diameter up to 30 μm. To demonstrate its utility, flow focusing microfluidic devices were fabricated for generation of Janus microrods, which can be easily modified for multitude of applications. When used as an extrudable ink, 3D printing of complex-shaped constructs were achieved with integrated electronics, which greatly extends its potential applications towards soft robotics. Further, its biocompatibility was tested with multiple cell types to validate its applicability for tissue engineering. Altogether, this material offers a myriad of potential applications (i.e., soft robotics, microfluidics, bioprinting) by providing a facile approach to develop complicated 3D structures and interconnected channels.

Application of 3D Bioprinting in Liver Diseases

Liver diseases are the primary reason for morbidity and mortality in the world. Owing to a shortage of organ donors and postoperative immune rejection, patients routinely suffer from liver failure. Unlike 2D cell models, animal models, and organoids, 3D bioprinting can be successfully employed to print living tissues and organs that contain blood vessels, bone, and kidney, heart, and liver tissues and so on. 3D bioprinting is mainly classified into four types: inkjet 3D bioprinting, extrusion-based 3D bioprinting, laser-assisted bioprinting (LAB), and vat photopolymerization. Bioinks for 3D bioprinting are composed of hydrogels and cells. For liver 3D bioprinting, hepatic parenchymal cells (hepatocytes) and liver nonparenchymal cells (hepatic stellate cells, hepatic sinusoidal endothelial cells, and Kupffer cells) are commonly used. Compared to conventional scaffold-based approaches, marked by limited functionality and complexity, 3D bioprinting can achieve accurate cell settlement, a high resolution, and more efficient usage of biomaterials, better mimicking the complex microstructures of native tissues. This method will make contributions to disease modeling, drug discovery, and even regenerative medicine. However, the limitations and challenges of this method cannot be ignored. Limitation include the requirement of diverse fabrication technologies, observation of drug dynamic response under perfusion culture, the resolution to reproduce complex hepatic microenvironment, and so on. Despite this, 3D bioprinting is still a promising and innovative biofabrication strategy for the creation of artificial multi-cellular tissues/organs.

Preparation of robust, water-resistant, antibacterial, and antioxidant chitosan-based films by incorporation of cinnamaldehyde-tannin acid-zinc acetate nanoparticles

Chitosan (CS) films have poor mechanical property, low water-resistance and limited antimicrobial activity, which hinder their application in food preservation industry. Cinnamaldehyde-tannic acid-zinc acetate nanoparticles (CTZA NPs) assembled from edible medicinal plant extracts were successfully incorporated into CS films to solve these issues. The tensile strength and water contact angle of the composite films increased about 5.25-fold and 17.55°. The addition of CTZA NPs reduced the water sensitivity of CS films, which could undergo appreciable stretching in water without breaking. Furthermore, CTZA NPs significantly enhanced the UV adsorption, antibacterial, and antioxidant properties of the films, while reduced their water vapor permeability. Moreover, it was possible to print inks onto the films because the presence of the hydrophobic CTZA NPs facilitated the deposition of carbon powder onto their surfaces. The films with great antibacterial and antioxidant activities can be applied for food packaging application.

Kinetic control concept for the diffusion processes of paracetamol active molecules across affinity polymer membranes from acidic solutions

Background

Paracetamol compound remains the most used pharmaceutical as an analgesic and antipyretic for pain and fever, often identified in aquatic environments. The elimination of this compound from wastewater is one of the critical operations carried out by advanced industries. Our work objective was to assess studies based on membrane processes by using two membranes, polymer inclusion membrane and grafted polymer membrane containing gluconic acid as an extractive agent for extracting and recovering paracetamol compound from aqueous solutions.

Result

The elaborated membrane characterizations were assessed using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Kinetic and thermodynamic models have been applied to determine the values of macroscopic (P and J₀), microscopic (D* and K_ass), activation and thermodynamic parameters (E_a, ΔH^#, ΔS^#, ΔH^#_diss, and ΔH^#_th). All results showed that the PVA–GA was more performant than its counterpart GPM–GA, with apparent diffusion coefficient values (10⁷D*) of 41.807 and 31.211 cm² s⁻¹ respectively, at T = 308 K. In addition, the extraction process for these membranes was more efficient at pH = 1. The relatively low values of activation energy (Ea), activation association enthalpy (ΔH^≠_ass), and activation dissociation enthalpy (ΔH^≠_diss) have indicated a kinetic control for the oriented processes studied across the adopted membranes much more than the energetic counterpart.

Conclusion

The results presented for the quantification of oriented membrane process ensured clean, sustainable, and environmentally friendly methods for the extraction and recovery of paracetamol molecule as a high-value substance.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13065-021-00794-7.

Orodispersible Membranes from a Modified Coaxial Electrospinning for Fast Dissolution of Diclofenac Sodium

The dissolution of poorly water-soluble drugs has been a longstanding and important issue in pharmaceutics during the past several decades. Nanotechnologies and their products have been broadly investigated for providing novel strategies for resolving this problem. In the present study, a new orodispersible membrane (OM) comprising electrospun nanofibers is developed for the fast dissolution of diclofenac sodium (DS). A modified coaxial electrospinning was implemented for the preparation of membranes, during which an unspinnable solution of sucralose was explored as the sheath working fluid for smoothing the working processes and also adjusting the taste of membranes. SEM and TEM images demonstrated that the OMs were composed of linear nanofibers with core-sheath inner structures. XRD and ATR-FTIR results suggested that DS presented in the OMs in an amorphous state due to the fine compatibility between DS and PVP. In vitro dissolution measurements and simulated artificial tongue experiments verified that the OMs were able to release the loaded DS in a pulsatile manner. The present protocols pave the way for the fast dissolution and fast action of a series of poorly water-soluble active ingredients that are suitable for oral administration.