Preclinical evaluation of methotrexate-loaded polyelectrolyte complexes and thermosensitive hydrogels as treatment for rheumatoid arthritis.

This work proposes new methotrexate (MTX) loaded drug delivery systems (DDS) to treat rheumatoid arthritis via the intra-articular route: a poloxamer based thermosensitive hydrogel (MTX-HG), oligochitosan and hypromellose phthalate-based polyelectrolyte complexes (MTX-PEC) and their association (MTX-PEC-HG). MTX-PEC showed 470 ± 166 nm particle size, 0.298 ± 0.