Stability of Affinity Based Self Assemblies in Invitro Oral Environment for Oral Wound Application

Oral mucositis, an ulcerative oral condition which affects greater than 80-90 % of the oral cavity, is a painful and debilitating chronic inflammatory condition that can result from chemo and/or radiotherapy. While gels and mouth rinses which provide temporary relief exist, there is an unmet clinical need for a robust long active barrier strategy which can simultaneously provide protection and release drug, enhancing the wound healing response. In this work, it is proposed that an affinity based layer-by-layer polymeric self assembly administered as a mouth rinse can allow for wound specific formation of barriers, providing a modular approach to regenerative therapy. The biocompatible polymer, chitosan, was biotinylated and used to form an alternating layer with streptavidin. Quantitative determination of extent of biotinylation was determined using reverse-phase High performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and 4-hydroxyazobenzene-2-carboxylic acid (HABA) assay. Effects of barrier thickness and formation kinetics were evaluated as a function of molecular properties using radiotracing and quartz crystal microbalance. The chemical stablity of these barriers in the presence of human saliva is also presented.