Lacramioara Popa

By Lăcrămioara Popa, Mihaela Violeta Ghica, Cristina Elena Dinu-Pîrvu and Teodora Irimia

This chapter focuses on the eye, one of the most important organs of humans. Current data on pathophysiology of the human eye are presented in direct correlation with a range of therapeutic products, with a well-known and widely used material, namely chitosan. Applications of chitosan biopolymer are described in the development of innovative, modern, therapeutic devices and solutions. Thus, chitosan is a good excipient either for classic drop-type ocular systems, as well as for complex drug systems such as nanostructures (nanoparticles, nanomicelles and nanosuspensions), liposomes, microemulsions, microspheres, in situ hydrogels and inserts or implants. A number of disadvantages for ocular administration of the drugs are thus overcome.

Part of the book: Chitin-Chitosan

By Lăcrămioara Popa, Mihaela Violeta Ghica and Cristina Elena Dinu-Pîrvu

Part of the book: Hydrogels

By Cristina Elena Dinu-Pîrvu, Roxana-Elena Avrămescu, Mihaela Violeta Ghica and Lăcrămioara Popa

With the help of biomimetics, superficial characteristics were transposed, through various methods, onto artificially obtained materials. Many industrial fields applied surface architecture modifications as improvements of classic materials/methods. The medico-pharmaceutical, biochemical, transportation, and textile fields are few examples of industrial areas welcoming a “structural change.” Anti-bioadhesion was widely exploited by means of antibacterial or self-cleaning fabrics and cell culturing/screening/isolation. Anti-icing, antireflective, and anticorrosion materials/coatings gained attention in the transportation and optical device fields. Interdisciplinary approaches on extreme wettability include “solid-fluid” formations called liquid marbles, which will be further discussed as a superhydrophobic behavior exponent.

Part of the book: Wettability and Interfacial Phenomena

By Mihaela Violeta Ghica, Cristina Elena Dinu-Pîrvu, Lăcrămioara Popa, Elena-Emilia Tudoroiu, Diana-Georgiana Ionescu and Claudia-Maria Benga

Worldwide, cutaneous lesions care represents a daily challenge for the medical system, with an increasing prevalence from year to year (from ~5 million in 2005 to about 8 million in 2018) and high costs for their treatment (between ~$28 billion and ~$97 billion). Injuries are the most frequent and destructive form of skin damage, affecting patients’ quality of life. To promote wound healing, an ideal treatment involves proper dressings that can manage the local pain, inflammation, or infection. Passive or dry traditional dressings, such as cotton, gauze, or lint, have limited therapeutic actions and demand periodic replacement of the dressing. Therefore, an optimal alternative for advanced wound care is represented by hydrogels, one of the five classes of modern dressings, which assure excellent local moisture, due to their high ability to absorb a large volume of water inside their three-dimensional networks. Moreover, hydrogels possess suitable biocompatibility, biodegradability, porosity, elasticity, flexibility, and biological properties similar to the extracellular matrix. This chapter presents the main characteristics of the hydrogels and the recent research regarding the development of new hydrogel dressings, based on natural, semi-synthetic, or synthetic biopolymers, loaded with varied therapeutic agents to stimulate the tissue regeneration of different etiologies cutaneous lesions.

Part of the book: Hydrogels

By Lăcrămioara Popa, Mihaela Violeta Ghica, Cristina Elena Dinu-Pîrvu and Elena-Emilia Tudoroiu

Part of the book: Hydrogels