Biodegradable Hyaluronic acid microPlates for Controlled Drug Release in Osteoarthritis

Luca Cesaracciu – Chief Technician, Materials Characterization Facility, IIT; Paolo Decuzzi – Senior Researcher Tenured - Principal Investigator, Laboratory of Nanotechnology for Precision Medicine, IIT; Denise Murgia – PostDoc, Laboratory of Nanotechnology for Precision Medicine, IIT

Introduction: Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common degenerative joint disease (1). Current therapies focus on symptom relief using non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Reduced joint lubrication, resulting from the degradation of hyaluronic acid (HA) in synovial fluid, has been implicated as a key contributor in OA (2). Here, we report the fabrication of long-acting, biodegradable HA microPlates (HA-μPL) aimed at preserving HA properties while enabling encapsulation of therapeutics. The HA-μPLs were produced via a top-down approach combining sacrificial templating with HA polymerization (3,4) and were characterized for their physicochemical, mechanical and release properties.