TY - JOUR AV - public JF - Biomedicines N2 - The aim of this study was to fabricate novel self-supporting tacrolimus suppositories using semisolid extrusion 3-dimensional printing (3DP) and to investigate their efficacy in an experimental model of inflammatory bowel disease. Blends of Gelucire 44/14 and coconut oil were employed as lipid excipients to obtain suppository formulations with self-emulsifying properties, which were then tested in a TNBS (2,4,6-trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid) induced rat colitis model. Disease activity was monitored using PET/CT medical imaging; maximum standardized uptake values (SUVmax), a measure of tissue radiotracer accumulation rate, together with body weight changes and histological assessments, were used as inflammatory indices to monitor treatment efficacy. Following tacrolimus treatment, a significant reduction in SUVmax was observed on days 7 and 10 in the rat colon sections compared to non-treated animals. Histological analysis using Nancy index confirmed disease remission. Moreover, statistical analysis showed a positive correlation (R2 = 71.48%) between SUVmax values and weight changes over time. Overall, this study demonstrates the effectiveness of 3D printed tacrolimus suppositories to ameliorate colitis and highlights the utility of non-invasive PET/CT imaging to evaluate new therapies in the preclinical area. UR - https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines8120563 N1 - © 2020 by the Authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). VL - 8 IS - 12 ID - discovery10117140 TI - 3D Printed Tacrolimus Rectal Formulations Ameliorate Colitis in an Experimental Animal Model of Inflammatory Bowel Disease A1 - Seoane-Viaño, I A1 - Gómez-Lado, N A1 - Lázare-Iglesias, H A1 - García-Otero, X A1 - Antúnez-López, JR A1 - Ruibal, Á A1 - Varela-Correa, JJ A1 - Aguiar, P A1 - Basit, AW A1 - Otero-Espinar, FJ A1 - González-Barcia, M A1 - Goyanes, A A1 - Luzardo-Álvarez, A A1 - Fernández-Ferreiro, A Y1 - 2020/12// KW - 3D printed drug products KW - M3dimaker KW - PET/CT imaging KW - TNBS rat model KW - personalized medicines and pharmaceuticals KW - rectal drug delivery KW - three-dimensional printing KW - ulcerative colitis ER -