Thermosensitive Biodegradable Hydrogels for Local and Controlled Cerebral Delivery of Proteins: MRI-Based Monitoring of and Protein Release

Hydrogels have been suggested as novel drug delivery systems for sustained release of therapeutic proteins in various neurological disorders. The main advantage these systems offer is the controlled, prolonged exposure to a therapeutically effective dose of the released drug after a single intracerebral injection. Characterization of controlled release of therapeutics from a hydrogel is generally performed , as current methods do not allow for measurements of spatiotemporal distribution and release kinetics of a loaded protein. Importantly, the environment introduces many additional variables and factors that cannot be effectively simulated under conditions. To address this, in the present contribution, we developed a noninvasive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) method to monitor local protein release from two injected hydrogels of the same chemical composition but different initial water contents. We designed a biodegradable hydrogel formulation composed of low and high concentration thermosensitive polymer and thiolated hyaluronic acid, which is liquid at room temperature and forms a gel due to a combination of physical and chemical cross-linking upon injection at 37 °C. The protein release kinetics from these gels were assessed by MRI analysis utilizing a model protein labeled with an MR contrast agent, i.e. gadolinium-labeled albumin (74 kDa). As proof of principle, the release kinetics of the hydrogels were first measured with MRI . Subsequently, the protein loaded hydrogels were administered in male Wistar rat brains and the release was monitored for 21 days. , the thermosensitive hydrogels with an initial water content of 81 and 66% released 64 ± 3% and 43 ± 3% of the protein loading, respectively, during the first 6 days at 37 °C. These differences were even more profound , where the thermosensitive hydrogels released 83 ± 16% and 57 ± 15% of the protein load, respectively, 1 week postinjection. Measurement of volume changes of the gels over time showed that the thermosensitive gel with the higher polymer concentration increased more than 4-fold in size after 3 weeks, which was substantially different from the behavior where a volume change of 35% was observed. Our study demonstrates the potential of MRI to noninvasively monitor intracerebral protein release from a locally administered in situ forming hydrogel, which could aid in the development and optimization of such drug delivery systems for brain disorders.