Nail polish like painkillers. Polish scientists will make a breakthrough?
Can painkillers be administered in the form of nail polish? Scientists and students of the Cracow University of Technology are working on it. They would not only work locally, as some could think – they could affect the whole body.
Thanks to Polish scientists, an innovative nail polish will be created, which will have various therapeutic functions – depending on its composition. If everything goes well, then consumers will have an alternative to the tablet, capsules, powder or liquid.
Why did the varnish fall into the eye of biotechnologists so much? = Nail plate, unlike the skin, is a hydrophilic barrier. Thanks to this properties, it can be an interesting path of administration of local, but also systemic drugs. Literature shows that active substances can penetrate the body through the nail plate for several days, which creates the possibility of developing varnishes enabling gradual and controlled release of systemic drugs, such as e.g. drugs acting on the central nervous system – explains dr hab. n. farm. Eng. Jolanta Jaśkowska (Department of Organic Chemistry and Technology – Faculty of Engineering and Chemical Technology PK). Scientist, together with mgr inż. Anna Drabczyk from the same faculty plays the role of a substantive expert. Mentors also take part in the experiment: dr hab. Edyta Pindelska and Zbigniew Majka – we read at pk.edu.pl.
Poles are working on a new way of administering drugs. “We analyze technological and physicochemical restrictions”
The study mainly includes the use of paint, antifungal or anti -inflammatory varnishes. Among the substances from the first group is, among others commonly known ibuprofen. Not only the scientific “veterans” take part in the work, but also students who are just taking their first steps in the world of biotechnology. – We are already observing that some active substances release immediately, while others gradually, which will affect the final form of the preparation. We analyze technological and physicochemical restrictions – notes Kamil Jurek. In addition to him, his peer was also involved – Iga Chodak.
Dr hab. n. farm. Eng. Jolanta Jaśkowska points out that the use of systemic drugs in the form of e.g. tablets, which have side effects covering the digestive system, can be replaced with varnishes, which these undesirable symptoms within the abdominal cavity will not give. In addition, by avoiding the liver, the bioavailability of a given substance will increase, thanks to which it will be possible to offer lower doses to patients in the future to get a therapeutic effect.
