Vectorización de fármacos para la optimización del tratamiento de enfermedades inflamatorias intestinales

Abstract

The term inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) comprises two idiopathic disorders,Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Its treatment depends on the degree of severity, the kind of disorder and the location, among other parameters. Corticosteroids are the mosteffective drugs for the treatment of IBD, especially prednisolone, whose efficacy has been shown to be greater in clinical trials than budesonide. However, its use is limited to severe cases due to the side effects associated to its systemic absorption.The main aim of this thesis was to develop modified release systems of prednisolone targeted with SELfd according to the biopharmaceutical factors of IBD. The partial objectives included the isolation and characterization of the dimeric lectin obtained from Sambucus ebulus L. fruits (SELfd), and the study of the bioadhesive properties of SELfd and ebulin f (Ebu f) on mouse intestinal tissue. It was intended to elaborate prednisolone microparticles selecting PLGA and chitosan as biocompatible and biodegradable polymers, and to functionalize the systems with SELfd to improve the drug targeting. Finally, the efficacy of the selected formulation was evaluated using the murine model ofdamage-regeneration generated by ebulin-f...