Producción de hidrogeles de fibroína de seda para la administración controlada de moléculas terapeúticas

Resumen

Regenerative medicine and tissue engineering have gained importance due to the ageing population and the need of new medical interventions. In this field, biomaterials play a key role in the treatment of different pathologies. Silk fibroin is a promising biomaterial due to its biocompatibility and structural manipulability. When it is in hydrogel conformation, they are useful in the controlled release of drugs in biomedicine.

This work investigates the stability of hydrogels in a pathological environment for the controlled delivery of therapeutic molecules. To accomplish this objective, the aim is to improve current treatments for ocular pathologies, such as intravitreal injections, through the intravitreal injection of silk fibroin hydrogels.

To this end, several analyses of the hydrogels were carried out in different environments, including hydrogel degradation, variation in mechanical properties and changes in the secondary structure of the hydrogel.

The results of the work show how the dimensions of the hydrogels decrease over time. Also, a variation in their secondary structures is observed, indicating a possible process of reorganisation and dynamic equilibrium. Furthermore, it was concluded that the degradation of the hydrogels did not show significant variations between the different environments analysed despite the difference in degradation in a pathological environment. However, the presence of vitreous humour decreased the degradation of the hydrogel.

This work provides results for understanding and using the hydrogel as a drug delivery system in specific environments. However, more research is needed to better understand the different underlying mechanisms and to optimise its clinical application.