Artificial intelligence-assisted development of <i>in situ</i> forming nanoparticles for arthritis therapy via intra-articular delivery
Ahmed S. Yacoub, Hussein O. Ammar, Magdy M. Ibrahim, Suzan M. Mansour, Nada M. El Hoffy
Abstract
full factorial experimental design was adopted. Morphological investigation, injectability, rheological studies, Fourier Transform Infrared Radiation (FTIR) as well as biological, histopathological, and biochemical examinations were performed to evaluate the optimized-ISNs. The optimized formulation, exhibiting a nano-sized particle size with a dense core, showed significant improvement in the histopathological findings compared to both the oral solution and the placebo. Additionally, the once-a-week IA administration of the optimized-ISNs proved a significant reduction in the protein expression of both STAT-3 and RANKL and the levels of anti-CCP and MCP-1 by almost 54 and 73%, respectively, coupled with a marked decline in the content of IL-17, MMP-3, NF-κB and TNF-α as compared to the positive control. In conclusion, the use of ISNs for intra-articular injection has demonstrated their effectiveness in piroxicam delivery for RA treatment.