Díaz Rodríguez, PatriciaMariño Lijó, CibránVázquez, José AntonioCaeiro Rey, José RamónLandín Pérez, Mariana2021-08-092021-08-092021Materials Science and Engineering: C 2021, 128: 112254. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.msec.2021.1122540928-4931http://hdl.handle.net/10347/26730Numerous therapeutic strategies have been developed for osteoarthritis (OA) management, including intra-articular (IA) injections. The ideal IA formulation should control cartilage degradation and restore synovial fluid viscosity. To this end, we propose to combine thermo-sensitive polymers (poloxamers) with hyaluronic acid (HA) to develop suitable beta-lapachone (βLap) loaded IA formulations. The development of IA formulations with these components entails several difficulties: low βLap solubility, unknown βLap therapeutic dose and the bonded commitment of easy administration and viscosupplementation. An optimized formulation was designed using artificial intelligence tools based on the experimental results of a wide variety of hydrogels and its therapeutic capacity was evaluated on an ex vivo OA model. The formulation presented excellent rheological properties and significantly decreased the secretion of degradative (MMP13) and pro-inflammatory (CXCL8) molecules. Therefore, the developed formulation is a promising candidate for OA treatment restoring the synovial fluid rheological properties while decreasing inflammation and cartilage degradationeng© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacionalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Hyaluronic acidIntra-articular hydrogelsThermo-sensitive systemsAnti-inflammatory activityOsteoarthritisjournal article10.1016/j.msec.2021.112254open access