Water-triggered in-situ gelling phospholipid oil enema for enhanced budesonide delivery and mucosal healing in ulcerative colitis.

Authors

Ting Ouyang, Yumo Chen, Yiying Jia, Jiarui Li, Zhouyang Tan, Kaili Lu, Minmin Wang, Helin Xu, Lifen Wang

Published in

International journal of pharmaceutics: X. Volume 12. Pages 100647. Epub Aug 21, 2026.

Abstract

Budesonide (BUD) enema therapy for ulcerative colitis (UC) is limited by poor solubility, inadequate bio-adhesion, and rapid clearance due to intestinal peristalsis. To address the limitations of conventional budesonide enemas, we designed a water-triggered in situ phase-transition phospholipid formulation (termed PG oil). This system comprises soybean phosphatidylcholine (PC-98), glyceryl dioleate (GDO), propylene glycol, and anhydrous ethanol, and achieves markedly enhanced BUD solubilization (35 mg/mL), in contrast to its negligible aqueous solubility (0.021 mg/mL). Upon contact with colonic fluid, PG oil rapidly underwent sol-gel transition, forming a bio-adhesive lamellar liquid crystalline gel that serves as both a physical mucosal barrier and a sustained-release drug depot. In a dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis mouse model, rectal administration of BUD-PG oil (0.3 mg/kg) significantly outperformed free BUD suspension, as evidenced by restored body weight, reduced disease activity index, normalized colon length, and decreased spleen index. Immunohistochemistry revealed marked suppression of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, TNF-α, IL-1β, MCP-1) in colonic tissue. Histological analysis demonstrated that BUD-PG promoted favorable mucosal repair characterized by reduced collagen deposition (Masson's trichrome: from 48.5% to 16.7%) while restoring gut barrier integrity through replenishment of goblet cells and upregulation of tight junction proteins (ZO-1, Occludin-1, Claudin-5, β-catenin). Collectively, this water-responsive in situ gelling phospholipid oil platform addresses critical limitations of conventional BUD enemas by combining sustained local drug delivery with physical mucosal protection, offering a promising therapeutic strategy for comprehensive mucosal healing in UC.

PMID:
42668512
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 30 Aug 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.