{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,25]],"date-time":"2026-07-25T11:23:51Z","timestamp":1784978631693,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,1,13]],"date-time":"2021-01-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1610496000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Agencia Estatal Investigaci\u00f3n and European Union, through FEDER (Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional)","award":["SAF2016-78756(AEI\/FEDER, EU)"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["SAF2016-78756(AEI\/FEDER, EU)"]}]},{"name":"Spanish Government","award":["RTI2018-100910-B-C41 and RTI2018-101599-B-C22-AR (MCUI\/FEDER, EU)"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RTI2018-100910-B-C41 and RTI2018-101599-B-C22-AR (MCUI\/FEDER, EU)"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003359","name":"Generalitat Valenciana","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["(project PROMETEO 2018\/024)"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["(project PROMETEO 2018\/024)"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003359","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Universitat Polit\u00e8cnica de Val\u00e8ncia-FISABIO","award":["(project A41 \u2013 METRO-RELEASE)"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["(project A41 \u2013 METRO-RELEASE)"]}]},{"name":"Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities of Spain","award":["FPU17\/00530 Barbara Sanchez-Dengra"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["FPU17\/00530 Barbara Sanchez-Dengra"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Pharmaceutics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Giardiasis is a parasitism produced by the protozoa Giardia intestinalis that lives as trophozoite in the small intestine (mainly in the duodenum) attached to the intestinal villus by means of billed discs. The first line treatment is metronidazole, a drug with high bioavailability, which is why to obtain therapeutic concentrations in duodenum, it is necessary to administer high doses of drug to patients with the consequent occurrence of side effects. It is necessary to developed new therapeutical approaches to achieve a local delivery of the drug. In this sense, we have developed gated mesoporous silica microparticles loaded with metronidazole and with a molecular gate pH dependent. In vitro assays demonstrated that the metronidazole release is practically insignificant at acidic pHs, but in duodenum conditions, the metronidazole delivery from the microparticles is effective enough to produce an important parasite destruction. In vivo assays indicate that this microparticulate system allows to increase the concentration of the drug in duodenum and reduce the concentration in plasma avoiding systemic effects. This system could be useful for other intestinal local treatments in order to reduce doses and increase drug availability in target tissues.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/pharmaceutics13010094","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,1,13]],"date-time":"2021-01-13T21:50:54Z","timestamp":1610574654000},"page":"94","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["pH-Dependent Molecular Gate Mesoporous Microparticles for Biological Control of Giardia intestinalis"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1685-142X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Isabel","family":"Gonz\u00e1lez-Alvarez","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Engineering, Pharmacokinetics and Pharmaceutical Technology Area, Miguel Hernandez University, Elche. San Juan Campus, 03550 San Juan, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ver\u00f3nica","family":"Vivancos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Engineering, Pharmacokinetics and Pharmaceutical Technology Area, Miguel Hernandez University, Elche. San Juan Campus, 03550 San Juan, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Carmen","family":"Coll","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto Interuniversitario de Investigaci\u00f3n de Reconocimiento Molecular y Desarrollo Tecnol\u00f3gico, Universitat Polit\u00e8cnica de Val\u00e8ncia and Universitat de Val\u00e8ncia, Camino de Vera s\/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain"},{"name":"CIBER de Bioingenier\u00eda, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina (CIBER-BBN), 46022 Valencia, Spain"},{"name":"Unidad Mixta UPV-CIPF de Investigaci\u00f3n en Mecanismos de Enfermedades y Nanomedicina, Universitat Polit\u00e8cnica de Val\u00e8ncia, Centro de Investigaci\u00f3n Pr\u00edncipe Felipe, C\/Eduardo Primo Y\u00fafera 3, 46012 Valencia, Spain"},{"name":"Unidad Mixta de Investigaci\u00f3n en Nanomedicina y Sensores, Universitat Polit\u00e8cnica de Val\u00e8ncia, IIS La Fe, Avenida Fernando Abril Martorell 106, 46026 Valencia, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2159-4314","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"B\u00e1rbara","family":"S\u00e1nchez-Dengra","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Engineering, Pharmacokinetics and Pharmaceutical Technology Area, Miguel Hernandez University, Elche. San Juan Campus, 03550 San Juan, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0361-3876","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Elena","family":"Aznar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto Interuniversitario de Investigaci\u00f3n de Reconocimiento Molecular y Desarrollo Tecnol\u00f3gico, Universitat Polit\u00e8cnica de Val\u00e8ncia and Universitat de Val\u00e8ncia, Camino de Vera s\/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain"},{"name":"CIBER de Bioingenier\u00eda, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina (CIBER-BBN), 46022 Valencia, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alejandro","family":"Ruiz-Picazo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Engineering, Pharmacokinetics and Pharmaceutical Technology Area, Miguel Hernandez University, Elche. San Juan Campus, 03550 San Juan, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5022-0544","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marival","family":"Bermejo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Engineering, Pharmacokinetics and Pharmaceutical Technology Area, Miguel Hernandez University, Elche. San Juan Campus, 03550 San Juan, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"F\u00e9lix","family":"Sancen\u00f3n","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto Interuniversitario de Investigaci\u00f3n de Reconocimiento Molecular y Desarrollo Tecnol\u00f3gico, Universitat Polit\u00e8cnica de Val\u00e8ncia and Universitat de Val\u00e8ncia, Camino de Vera s\/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain"},{"name":"CIBER de Bioingenier\u00eda, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina (CIBER-BBN), 46022 Valencia, Spain"},{"name":"Unidad Mixta UPV-CIPF de Investigaci\u00f3n en Mecanismos de Enfermedades y Nanomedicina, Universitat Polit\u00e8cnica de Val\u00e8ncia, Centro de Investigaci\u00f3n Pr\u00edncipe Felipe, C\/Eduardo Primo Y\u00fafera 3, 46012 Valencia, Spain"},{"name":"Unidad Mixta de Investigaci\u00f3n en Nanomedicina y Sensores, Universitat Polit\u00e8cnica de Val\u00e8ncia, IIS La Fe, Avenida Fernando Abril Martorell 106, 46026 Valencia, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mar\u00eda Auxiliadora","family":"Dea-Ayuela","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Departamento de Farmacia, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Cardenal Herrera-CEU, C\/Santiago Ram\u00f3n y Cajal, s\/n, Alfara del Patriarca, 46115 Valencia, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marta","family":"Gonzalez-Alvarez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Engineering, Pharmacokinetics and Pharmaceutical Technology Area, Miguel Hernandez University, Elche. 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