부산대학교 도서관

Sustainable social activity is a major goal in an aging society, although this is limited by loss of athleticism, with osteoporosis-related fractures being the most common cause of long-term behavioral restrictions in older people. Therefore, the development of therapeutics that shorten the duration of fracture therapy is essential to improve the quality of life and social activity of older individuals. In this study, we developed a polyethylene glycol-modified alendronate (PEG-ALN) that can efficiently deliver the active ingredient (ALN) to fracture sites. PEG-ALN released ALN in response to an acidic pH and was systemically administered to mice in a fracture model. PEG-ALN exhibited selective accumulation at the fracture site and significantly accelerated bone healing compared to free ALN. This study highlights the utility of a simple polymer modification of ALN as a systemically injectable medicine for patients with bone fractures. Bone fractures present a significant risk to the health and quality of life of older individuals in aging societies. However, there are limited options for direct pharmacological treatment of fractures. In this study, we optimized a commonly used but therapeutically challenging drug, alendronate (ALN), to target and improve fracture healing. We modified alendronate with high molecular weight polyethylene glycol (PEG) through an acidic-responsive linker (PEG-ALN) and assessed its effect on osteoblasts and osteoclasts, and thereby on bone healing, both in vitro and in vivo. This PEGylation prevented the rapid clearance of ALN in a mouse fracture model and enabled specific accumulation of PEG-ALN at fracture sites. The accumulated PEG-ALN is cleaved by the acidic environment of these osteoclastic regions to release active ALN directly where required. Consequently, the fracture region is converted to an osteoblast-dominated environment with increased recovery of bone fractures. Thus, our study demonstrated that PEG-ALN provides an effective delivery system for ALN to fracture sites, enabling rapid healing without apparent side effects. We believe that the findings of this study are relevant to the scope of your journal as they address the biomedical use of materials that could enhance debilitating conditions that will become more frequent in a rapidly aging population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]