Doxycycline microparticles for potential use in neurodegenerative diseases

Resum

Neurodegenerative diseases are a group of chronic, progressive disorders characterized by the gradual loss of neurons that affect specific regions of the brain, leading to deficits in memory, movement and cognition functions. Doxycycline (DOX) has proven to be able to reduce the progression and severity of disease in different experimental models of neurodegeneration, mainly due to its anti-inflammatory effects, which include the reduction of cytokine release and the inhibition of MMPs. Previous studies have shown that doses ranging between 20-40 mg/day while maintaining the anti-inflammatory effect do not cause bacterial susceptibility. According to this if the drug is encapsulated within microparticles, the desired therapeutic effect could be achieved with very small amounts and the risk of side effects and bacterial resistance could be prevented. However, commonly used techniques for the elaboration of microparticles usually lead to low encapsulation efficiency values (EE) of hydrophilic drugs. In this study various parameters were investigates to enhance DOX encapsulation within poly (D, L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) microspheres prepared by solvent extraction-evaporation and double emulsion (water/oil/water) techniques.