Surfactant Interaction with Ulcerative Colitis

Approximately 907,000 Americans currently suffer from ulcerative colitis, a condition characterized by inflammation of the large intestine or rectum that can lead to hospitalization or surgery. Treatment of this disease often includes anti-inflammatory medication or immunosuppressants. Here foams are an attractive delivery platform, offering relatively high bioavailability, low systemic exposure, and improved patient comfort. However, the surfactants used to generate these foams may adversely affect the diseased mucosa. Initial testing evaluated two alternative surfactants for use in topical drug delivery platforms: sodium caseinate and L-α-phosphatidylcholine. Both were compared to the biocompatible surfactant Pluronic ® F-127 using stability and density tests, and biocompatibility tests performed on mini-guts. Unexpected results from these experiments point to a complex interplay between surfactants and diseased tissue. This led to the current project investigating surfactant-ulcerative colitis interaction using organoid-bacteria co-cultures. Emphasis is placed not only on understanding the possible effects of increased permeability on bacterial translocation, but also on possible implications for current and future delivery platforms.