Nitin Joshi, Jing Yan, Mickael Dang, Kai Slaughter, Yufeng Wang, Dana Wu, Trevor Ung, Virja Pandya, Mu Xian Chen, Shahdeep Kaur, Sachin Bhagchandani, Haya A Alfassam, John Joseph, Jingjing Gao, Mahima Dewani, Ryan Chak Sang Yip, Eli Weldon, Purna Shah, Chetan Shukla, Nicholas E Sherman, James N Luo, Thomas Conway, James P Eickhoff, Luis Botelho, Ali H Alhasan, Jeffrey M Karp, Joerg Ermann
Intra-articular delivery of disease-modifying osteoarthritis drugs (DMOADs) is likely to be most effective in early post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA) when symptoms are minimal and patients are physically active. DMOAD delivery systems therefore must withstand repeated mechanical loading without affecting the drug release kinetics. Although soft materials are preferred for DMOAD delivery, mechanical loading can compromise their structural integrity and disrupt drug release. Here, we report a mechanically resilient soft hydrogel that rapidly self-heals under conditions resembling human running while maintaining sustained release of the cathepsin-K inhibitor L-006235 used as a proof-of-concept DMOAD...
May 21, 2024: bioRxiv