Bibiana Margarita Vallejo

In vitro analysis regarding the safety of components used in a film-based therapeutic system loaded with meglumine antimoniate and its activity toward Leishmania major experimental infections: a preliminary study.

Abstract Owing to its biocompatibility properties and its ability to promote the scar healing process, chitosan is employed in tissue engineering for the manufacture of formulations. To control the characteristic skin ulcers of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL), the use of a biopolymeric system that favors the scar healing process and releases an active agent such as meglumine antimoniate may be a better option. For these reasons, here we analyzed the cytotoxic capabilities of excipients [medium molecular weight chitosan (MMWC), lactic acid (LA) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)], used for the formulation of a film-based therapeutic system that releases meglumine antimoniate and were evaluated on human macrophages [monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs)], L929 fibroblasts and parasites (Leishmania major promastigotes and intracellular amastigotes). The ability of excipients to modulate the cytokines production involved in the scar healing process was compared with film-based therapeutic system. The efficiency of a film-based therapeutic system loaded with meglumine antimoniate was compared with conventional formulation (Albiventriz®). We found that MMWC was toxic for two parasite forms. In contrast, measurement of interleukin levels did not show any evidence of preferential secretion as a side effect of treating human macrophages with MMWC. Finally, the efficiency of a polymeric film-based therapeutic system that was loaded with meglumine antimoniate could not be determined due to the high degree of toxicity observed in infected MDMs; moreover, these compounds do not induce any apparent immunomodulatory effects. Our findings suggest that the final concentrations of each excipients (MMWC, LA and PVP) that were used in the polymeric film were suitable vehicles for active pharmaceutical compound delivery and did not selectively affect (enhancing or diminishing immune activity) macrophages.

Design of a Device for Recording Bioelectric Signals with Surface Electrodes, in the Evaluation of the Effect of Ultraviolet Radiation on a Tissue

The accepted methodology by regulatory agencies to determine the efficacy of sunscreen products makes use of healthy human volunteers who are exposed to radiation. In order to find an alternative to these types of evaluations, the effect of exposure to UV radiation was investigated in an ex vivo pig skin model on the bioelectrical signals of the tissue in terms of energy and impedance. A system was implemented using the measurements configuration of 4 electrodes (Two electrostimulation electrodes and two electrodes for the signals acquisition all of them were silver cup electrodes) and a mathematical model was established in relation to electrical change as a function of exposure time. As a result, an attenuation of the energy response signal relative to the non-irradiated tissue was obtained, as well as impedance values after irradiation. This behavior is directly related to damage in the tissue structure. The results allow to conclude that the device can quantify the effect caused by radiation on the electrical properties of an ex vivo tissue and are promising in the understanding of the phenomena associated with the electrical response of a tissue to ultraviolet radiation.

Technological Development in the Production Processes of Small and Medium Enterprises in the Pharmaceutical Sector in Bogotá, Colombia

This chapter describes the state of technological development in the production processes of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the pharmaceutical industry in Bogota, Colombia. The evaluation focuses on the use of indicators like the relationships between producer companies and their suppliers, the incorporation of each into the operations chain, the management of quality systems and the implementation of green production principles. It deals with strategies that enabled the proposal of some useful indicators in the evaluation of technological development in the field, justifying the indicators’ selection and the criteria used to obtain surveys for each defined indicator. When these indicators were applied to in cosmetics, phytotherapeutics, medicines and cleaning good producers, companies’ positive results were given. Finally, the level of technological development in the pharmaceutical sector is evaluated on the basis of the indicators proposed using as a tool a survey designed to assess and study the material transformation processes in each of the industry’s subsectors.