Browsing by discipline "Biofarmaci"

Liposomes are nano-sized vesicles in which the aqueous phase is surrounded by lipid-derived bilayer. They are excellent drug vehicles for example in ocular drug delivery because they can, among other things, increase the bioavailability and stability of the drug molecules and reduce their toxicity. Liposomes are known to be safe to use, because they degrade within a certain period of time and they are biocompatible with the cells and tissues of the body. Owing to its structure, the surface of liposomes can also be easily modified and functionalized. Light-activated ICG liposomes allow drug release in a controlled manner at a given time and specific site. Their function is based on a small molecule called indocyanine green (ICG) which, after being exposed to laser light, absorbs light energy and thereby locally elevates the temperature of the lipid bilayer. As a result, the drug inside is released into the surroundings. The blood circulation time of liposomes has often been prolonged by coating the liposomes with polyethylene glycol (PEG). Although PEG is generally regarded as a safe and biocompatible polymer, it has been found to increase immunological reactions and PEG-specific antibodies upon repeated dosing. Conversely, hyaluronic acid (HA), is an endogenous polysaccharide, which is present in abundance for instance in vitreous. Thus, it could serve as a stealth coating material which extends the otherwise short half-life of liposomes. One of the main objectives of this thesis was to find out whether HA could be used to coat liposomes instead of PEG. In order to prepare HA-coated liposomes, one of the lipid bilayer phospholipids, DSPE, had to be first conjugated with HA. For the conjugation, potential synthesis protocols were sought from the literature. Ultimately two different reductive amination-based protocols were tested. Consequently, the protocol in which the conjugation was achieved via the aldehyde group of HA, proved to be working. Thereafter, HA-coated liposomes were prepared by thin film hydration from the newly synthesised conjugate as well as DPPC, DSPC and 18:0 Lyso PC. Calcein was encapsulated in the liposomes. HA-covered liposomes were then compared with uncoated and PEGylated liposomes by examining their phase transition temperatures, ICG absorbances, sizes, polydispersities, and both light and heat-induced drug releases. The aforementioned tests were also conducted when the effects of the HA and ICG doubling were examined and the possibility to manufacture HA liposomes with small size was assessed. HA-liposomes showed similar results as PEG-coated liposomes. In addition, successful extrusion of HA-liposomes through a 30 nm membrane was also demonstrated in the results. Doubling of HA did not significantly affect the results. In contrast, increasing the molar amount of ICG by double caused spontaneous calcein leakage even before any heat or light exposure. Based on these findings, HA could work as a coating material instead of PEG, yet further studies are required for ensuring this conclusion. The other key objective was to evaluate the stability of four different formulations, named as AL, AL18, AL16 and AL14, in storage and biological conditions. Based on the differences in the formulation phospholipid composition, the assumption was that AL would be the most stable of the group and that the stability would decrease so that AL18 and AL16 would be the next most stable and eventually AL14 would be the least stable formulation. As in the previous study, the liposomes were prepared by thin film hydration with calcein being encapsulated inside the liposomes. In the storage stability test, liposomes were stored in HEPES buffer at either 4 °C or at room temperature for one month. In the test conducted in physiological conditions, the liposomes were added either to porcine vitreous or fetal bovine serum (FBS) and the samples were incubated at 37 ºC for five days. Regardless of the experiment, phase transition temperatures as well as light and heat-induced drug releases were initially measured. As the test progressed, calcein release, ICG absorbance, size, and polydispersity were measured at each time point. The initial measurements confirmed the hypothesis about the stability differences of tested formulations. In the storage stability test, all formulations, except AL14, appeared to be stable throughout the study and no apparent differences between the formulations or temperatures were observed. On the other hand, the stability of liposomes stored in biological matrices varied so that the liposomes were more stable in vitreous than in FBS and the stability decreased in both media as expected.

The impact of nanoparticulate drug carriers, especially polymeric micelles, is growing continuously. However, their drug delivery properties in vivo are difficult to predict. In this thesis, the approach of screening a combinatorial library of nano carriers for their drug delivery properties in a high throughput/high content (HT/HC) manner was tested. The library consisted of self-assembling polymeric micelles, using the amphiphilic polymer DSPE-PEG2000. The physicochemical characterization of micelles was focused on size, shape and stability, tested by various methodologies. The micelles were labeled with the fluorescence dye Alexa568 and the combinatorial character was based on labeling with two different Cell Penetrating Peptides (CPP), RGD and transactivator of transcription (TAT), in three molar ratios each. The cytotoxicity concentration ranges and micelle uptake were tested in the ARPE-19 cell line. Intracellular localization was observed by confocal fluorescence microscopy. Quantitative HCS imaging analysis was performed by image cytometry, whereas only the parameter 'micelles spots per cell' was analyzed exemplarily. The quantitative HCS results were not clear and pointed to insufficient optimization of experimental and analytical parameters. The results suggest that HCS could be a suitable method to analyze a nanoparticulate library for its drug delivery properties, requiring careful optimization of experimental parameters. However, the careful characterization of the micellar library is a critical factor in planning and understanding biological experiments.

Active transport processes in the basolateral (sinusoidal) membrane of hepatocytes have an important role in the hepatic clearance and overall disposition for several types of drugs. Organic anion transporting polypeptides (OATPs) expressed in the sinusoidal membrane have been shown to mediate the sodium-independent hepatic uptake of broad range of drugs and they have been associated with clinically relevant drug-drug interactions (DDIs) and genetic polymorphisms. The literature review focuses on sinusoidal OATP transporters and on the pharmacokinetic effects of OATP-mediated hepatic uptake. In addition, current methods to investigate the interactions between drugs and transporters are discussed, with the emphasis on methods applicable to study uptake transporters. The aim of the experimental part of the master's thesis was to determine if two clinically used drugs, entacapone and fluvastatin, are actively transported from blood into rat and human hepatocytes, and to assess the role of OATP transporters in the hepatic uptake of the drugs in comparison with known OATP substrates, estrone 3-sulfate (E3S) and taurocholic acid and broad OATP inhibitor rifamycin SV. The uptake kinetics of compounds of interest were determined in freshly isolated and cryopreserved rat hepatocytes and in cryopreserved human hepatocytes using the oil-spin method. Uptake clearances (CLuptake) via active uptake (CLactive) and passive diffusion (Pdiff) were calculated from the initial uptake data over a 1 - 200 µM and 1 - 50 µM concentration range for entacapone and fluvastatin, respectively. The half-maximal inhibitor concentration (IC50) of E3S uptake transport was determined for entacapone in a competitive uptake experiment over a 10 - 400 µM concentration range. Fluvastatin uptake showed active saturable transport kinetics in rat hepatocytes with a Km value of 6 µM, whereas entacapone uptake in rat hepatocytes was somewhat linear and did not inhibit E3S uptake at clinically significant concentrations, with an IC50 value of 240 µM. Significantly lower hepatic uptake of taurocholate and entacapone was observed between rat and human hepatocytes, indicating species differences in hepatic uptake processes, although cryopreservation may have had an effect on the noticed difference. The results suggest that murine Oatp transporters do not have a significant contribution to hepatic uptake of entacapone. However, this should be confirmed with future studies with more repetitions and a reliable quantification method.

Functional in vitro cultured human hepatocytes are needed in different applications in biomedical research. Treatment for liver diseases is usually liver transplantation, but due to the lack of healthy donors, cell therapy using hepatocytes is considered as a better option. Drug industry will also need representative liver models to test metabolic profiles of drug molecules. Primary human hepatocytes are studied in cell therapy and disease modelling, but they have also drawbacks. In vitro they do not proliferate efficiently, and they are short-lived. In vitro differentiated human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) to hepatic fate are an alternative for the primary human hepatocytes. Especially human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) are widely studied because they are easily available, and they even make personalized therapy possible without problems with ethical issues related to the human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). Differentiation to hepatic fate includes several steps before mature functional hepatocyte-like cells are formed. Hepatocytes are derived from the definitive endoderm (DE) which is one of the germ layers formed in the gastrulation process. Efficient induction of hPSCs into DE lineage would be a good starting point for generating mature hepatocyte-like cells in further hepatic differentiation. Different protocols to differentiate hPSCs in vitro into DE have been published. In vitro cell culture systems should well represent the environment of the target tissue because signals from the environment guide the differentiation. Three-dimensional (3D) cell culture systems are widely studied, because they better mimic the in vivo microenvironment of cells than two-dimensional (2D) cell culture. The aim of the thesis was to study the efficacy of the 3D differentiation of hiPSCs into DE. Before starting the 3D differentiation, differentiation protocol was optimized and the effect of ROCK inhibitor Y-27632 was investigated. Differentiation medium was supplemented with Y-27632 during the whole 6 days differentiation, because survival of the cells and formation of the spheroids were improved, and gene expression studies of pluripotency markers and several DE markers did not show evident effect of Y-27632 on the gene expression of hiPSCs. The main objective in the studies was also to investigate possible differences between different 3D culture conditions on hiPSCs differentiation into DE. Also, the effect of the spheroid size on differentiation was examined. Two different hydrogels were used as a matrix material in the experiments: basement membrane extract (BME) and nanofibrillar cellulose (NFC) hydrogels. Suspension culture was used as a biomaterial-free 3D culture system. Experiments were performed with three spheroid sizes: 200 cells/spheroid, 500 cells/spheroid and 1000 cells/spheroid. Efficacy of differentiation to DE lineage was estimated by studying protein and mRNA expression of some of the DE markers (HNF3B, SOX17, CXCR4, CER1), pluripotency marker OCT4, mesendoderm marker Brachyury and hepatoblast marker HNF4A in the cells. Spheroids differentiated in suspension and NFC were analysed by flow cytometry to get the number of DE positive live cells and dead cells using CXCR4 and 7-AAD double staining. Besides flow cytometry, protein expression of some of the key markers were studied by immunofluorescent staining and further confocal imaging. Viability of the spheroids in BME hydrogel culture were investigated using live/dead staining followed by confocal imaging. BME hydrogel culture was left out from the further experiments due to the morphology of the spheroids and results from viability and protein expression studies. Spheroids in suspension started DE differentiation faster compared to NFC culture. Suspension and NFC cultures yielded high number of double positive cells in flow cytometry and bright fluorescence of other DE markers was seen in the confocal images. NFC hydrogel proved to be a promising 3D culture system by supporting the differentiation of hiPSCs. Flow cytometry results and gene expression studies propose that four days long 3D differentiation would be efficient to produce sufficient number of DE cells. Smaller spheroids showed higher number of DE positive cells than bigger spheroids on day 2 but gene expression studies showed difference in DE marker expression between size conditions rather in later days in differentiation and it was the opposite. Experiments showed signs of more efficient differentiation of the smaller sized spheroids in the beginning of differentiation. But further studies are needed to verify the obtained results and both draw conclusions about the possible differences between different 3D culture systems and explore the best size of the spheroid for hepatic differentiation. However, results obtained from the studies are useful for designing further experiments.

Liposomes are spherical nano-sized drug delivery systems which are composed of lipid bilayer. With liposomes drugs can be targeted for example to tumours and targeting can be passive or active. Drug release from liposomes can also be activated by different methods. Light is very promising triggering method, because it enables drug release at specific time and site. This study examined light activated indocyanine green (ICG) liposomes. Drug release from liposomes happens because ICG converts light energy to heat. ICG is clinically approved imaging agent, so ICG liposomes are very promising drug delivery systems even for clinical use. Liposomes were prepared by thin-film hydration method. One aim of the study was to prepare as small ICG-liposomes as possible. The bigger 100 nm liposomes were studied in three different formulations and the purpose was to find differences between those formulations. In formulation A ICG was in PEGs, in formulation B ICG was in lipid bilayer with no PEGs and in formulation C ICG was supposed to be in lipid bilayer although the formulation C included PEGs. In this study, the cell up take of ICG liposomes was studied with pharmacokinetic model and data from in vitro studies was supposed to use in a pharmacokinetic model. In this study, it was possible to prepare 40 nm sized ICG-liposomes. Small liposomes did not release encapsulated calsein as well as bigger 100 nm liposomes. The decreased release from smaller liposomes was probably explained by the results witch pointed out that transition temperature of small liposomes was higher than transition temperature of bigger liposomes. In the future, the lipid composition of the small liposomes need to be reoptimized, that the release would be more effective. This study however proved that small ICG-liposomes can be prepared and the small size lasts even over three months. Three different formulations of 100 nm liposomes were studied and the differences between the properties of the formulations were found. ICG in the lipid bilayer changed properties of the formulation B and the passive release of the calsein and release during the lightning were increased. In formulation C transition temperature was decreased and its storage life was lower than in other formulations. Formulation A was best for the next studies and the phospholipid composition of other formulations need to be optimated that drug release and storage life would be good enough. Intracellular release properties of liposomes were studied with Sytox red probe. Fluorescence of Sytox red increases when it binds with DNA or RNA. With this study, it was proved that liposomes release Sytox red inside the cells and that the lightning time affects to the release. The results weren't useable for pharmacokinetic model, so the model was made based by literature. Pharmacokinetic model can be used in the future studies and different in vitro or in vivo results can be combined with the model.