Targeted treatment of chronic cystitis using intravesical instillation of an encapsulated form of hyaluronic acid

Introduction. A new approach in the bladder diseases treatment is an intravesical instillation of drugs. However, the low therapeutic effectiveness and painfulness of the instillation procedure are significant limitations of this method. Often, therapy for chronic cystitis comes down to repeated drug instillation into the bladder, which can lead to irritation of the urethral canal and re-infection.

Purpose of the study – an approach to the treatment of chronic cystitis by a combination of the local delivery - intravesical instillation, and advanced materials science technologies - emulsion microgels.

Materials and methods. Hyaluronic acid (HA) was encapsulated in emulsion microgels based on whey protein isolate. To study the therapeutic effect, experimental animals were divided into 3 groups (5 pieces each): without therapy; with encapsulated HA therapy; with therapy of HA solution. Chronic cystitis modeling was carried out by intraperitoneal administration of a cyclophosphamide solution. For groups of the animals receiving therapy, intravesical instillation of HA in encapsulated and free forms was carried out four times on days 6, 10, 14 and 18 after the initiation of cystitis. The therapy effectiveness was assessed using classical histological analysis.

Results. This work demonstrates the effectiveness of chronic cystitis therapy with hyaluronic acid immobilized in mucoadhesive carriers – emulsion microgels. Histological analysis confirmed a significant topical therapeutic effect in animals with intravesical administration of microgels with hyaluronic acid.

Conclusions. The proposed strategy combines local delivery and the use of microcontainers containing a drug, which can be successfully used for local therapy of a wide range of bladder diseases.