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Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Spinal cord injury (SCI) is devastating and debilitating, and currently no effective treatments exist. Approximately, 12,000 new cases of SCI occur annually in the United States alone. The central nervous system has very low repair capability after injury, due to the toxic environment in the injured tissue. After spinal cord trauma, ruptured blood vessels cause neighboring cells and tissues to be deprived of oxygen and nutrients, and result in the accumulation of carbon dioxide and waste. New blood vessels form spontaneously after SCI, but then retract as the injured tissue forms a cavity. Thus, the newly formed vasculature likely retracts because it lacks a structural support matrix to extend across the lesion. Currently, in the field of spinal cord injury, combinational treatment approaches appear to hold the greatest therapeutic potential. Therefore, the aim of these studies was to transplant a novel, non-immunogenic, bioengineered hydrogel, into the injured spinal cord to serve as both a structural scaffold (for blood vessels, axons, and astrocytic processes), as well as a functional matrix with a time-controlled release of growth factors (Vascular endothelial growth factor, VEGF; Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor, GDNF). The benefit of this hydrogel is that it remains liquid at cooler temperatures, gels to conform to the space surrounding it at body temperature, and was designed to have a similar tensile strength as spinal cord tissue. This is advantageous due to the non-uniformity of lesion cavities following contusive spinal cord injury. Hydrogel alone and combinational treatment groups significantly improved several measures of functional recovery and showed modest histological improvements, yet did not provoke any increased sensitivity to a thermal stimulus. Collectively, these findings suggest that with further investigation, hydrogel along with a combination of growth factors might be a useful therapeutic approach for repairing the injured spinal cord.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The extracellular matrix (ECM) governs many cellular processes through biochemical and mechanical cues. Particularly, the effect ECM mechanical properties on cells fate has been well established over the years. Many hydrogel systems have been used to mimic the dynamic stiffening processes occurring in ECM. However, changes in ECM stiffness does not fully recapitulate the mechanics of native ECM, as viscoelasticity is also a major factor contributing to ECM dynamic property. This thesis describes the design and characterization of an enzyme-crosslinked hydrogel system that is not only capable of being stiffened on demand, but also can be tuned to obtain viscoelasticity. The first objective of this thesis was to utilize horseradish peroxidase (HRP) to crosslink thiol-norbornene hydrogel and use mushroom tyrosinase (MT) to create secondary DOPA-dimer crosslinks that stiffened the hydrogel. The cytocompatibility of HRP-mediated thiol-norbornene gelation and the effect of stiffening on cell fate was evaluated. The second objective of this thesis represented the first step towards developing a hydrogel system whose viscoelasticity could be dynamically tuned. Thiol-norbornene hydrogel was designed to yield dynamically adaptable boronic ester bonds via partial enzymatic reaction. Thiol-norborne hydrogel was made to contain hydroxyl phenol as well as boronic acid residues within its network. MT, in this case was used to oxidize the hydroxy phenol moieties into DOPA, which then complexed with boronic acid, created dynamic bonds, introducing viscoelasticity to an initial elastic hydrogel.

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According to estimates, more than 40% of all new chemical entities developed in pharmaceutical industry are practically insoluble in water. Naturally, the demand for excipients which increase the water solubility and thus, the bioavailability of such hydrophobic drugs is enormous. Poly(2-oxazoline)s (POx) are currently intensively discussed as highly versatile class of biomaterials. Although selected POx based micellar drug formulations exhibit extraordinarily high drug loadings > 50 wt.% enabling high anti-tumor efficacies in vivo, the formulation of other hydrophobic compounds has failed. This casts doubt on the general understanding in which a hydrophobic active pharmaceutical ingredient is dissolved rather unspecifically in the hydrophobic core of the micelles following the fundamental concept of “like dissolves like”. Therefore, a closer look at the interactions between all components within a formulation becomes increasingly important. To do so, a large vehicle platform was synthesized, loaded with various hydrophobic drugs of different structure, and the formulations subsequently characterized with conventional and less conventional techniques. The obtained in-depth insights helped to develop a more thorough understanding about the interaction of polymer and incorporated API finally revealing morphologies deviating from a classical core/shell structure. During these studies, the scarcely investigated polymer class of poly(2-oxazine)s (POzi) was found as promising drug-delivery vehicle for hydrophobic drugs. Apart from this fundamental research, the anti-tumor efficacy of the two APIs curcumin and atorvastatin has been studied in more detail. To increase the scope of POx and POzi based formulations designed for intravenous administration, a curcumin loaded hydrogel was developed as injectable drug-depot. / Schätzungen zufolge sind mehr als 40% aller „new chemical entities“, welche in der pharmazeutischen Industrie entwickelt werden, wasserunlöslich. Aus diesem Grund ist der Bedarf an Zusatzstoffen, welche die Wasserlöslichkeit und dadurch die Bioverfügbarkeit erhöhen, enorm. Poly(2-oxazolin)e (POx) werden derzeitig intensiv als vielseitig einsetzbare Biomaterialien untersucht. Obwohl bestimmte POx basierte, mizellare Wirkstoffformulierungen außergewöhnlich hohe Beladungskapazitäten > 50 Gew.% aufwiesen und dadurch ausgeprägte anti-Tumor Effektivität in vivo ermöglichten, schlug die Formulierung anderer hydrophober Stoffe fehl. Dies lässt Zweifel an dem altbewährten Konzept aufkommen, in welchem hydrophobe Arzneistoffe mehr oder weniger unspezifisch im hydrophoben Kern einer Mizelle gelöst werden. Aus diesem Grund ist ein genauerer Blick auf die Interaktionen zwischen allen Bestandteilen einer Formulierung vonnöten. Deshalb wurde eine große Polymerplattform synthetisiert, mit verschiedenen hydrophoben Wirkstoffen unterschiedlicher Struktur beladen und die Formulierungen im Anschluss mit herkömmlichen und weniger herkömmlichen Methoden charakterisiert. Die daraus erhaltenen Einblicke ermöglichten es ein umfassenderes Verständnis über die Interaktionen von Polymer und Wirkstoff zu entwickeln. Innerhalb dieser Studien wurden Aggregate charakterisiert, welche von einer klassischen Kern/Schale Morphologie abwichen. Des Weiteren konnte die kaum erforschte Polymerklasse der Poly(2-oxazin)e (POzi) als vielversprechende Wirkstoffträgerplattform für hydrophobe Wirkstoffe charakterisiert werden. Von dieser Grundlagenforschung abgesehen, wurde die anti-Tumor Effektivität von Curcumin und Atorvastatin Nanoformulierungen untersucht. Um den Anwendungsbereich der POx und POzi basierten Wirkstoffformulierungen, welche für intravenöse Verabreichung entwickelt wurden, zu erweitern, wurde ein Curcumin beladenes Hydrogel als injizierbares Wirkstoffdepot entwickelt.

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