{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,15]],"date-time":"2026-04-15T21:08:09Z","timestamp":1776287289417,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,11,27]],"date-time":"2020-11-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1606435200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001871","name":"Funda\u00e7\u00e3o para a Ci\u00eancia e a Tecnologia","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["PTDC\/QUI-COL\/30834\/2017"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PTDC\/QUI-COL\/30834\/2017"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001871","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001871","name":"Funda\u00e7\u00e3o para a Ci\u00eancia e a Tecnologia","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["SFRH\/BD\/147038\/2019"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["SFRH\/BD\/147038\/2019"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001871","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001871","name":"Funda\u00e7\u00e3o para a Ci\u00eancia e a Tecnologia","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["CEECIND\/01620\/2017"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CEECIND\/01620\/2017"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001871","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Pharmaceutics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Nature has led to the discovery of biopolymers with noteworthy pharmaceutical applications. Blended biopolymers have demonstrated promising characteristics when compared with their individual counterparts. Sodium alginate (SA) is a marine polymer that has demonstrated the ability to form hydrogels, an interesting property for the development of cutaneous formulations. Predicting the good performance of blended biopolymers, a novel series of hybrid hydrogels based on SA and poly(vinyl) alcohol (PVA) were prepared. Quercetin, a natural polyphenolic flavonoid commonly found in fruits and vegetables, is widely known for its strong anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity, thus with potential applications against melanoma, dermatitis, psoriasis, and skin ageing. Here, hydrogels were produced at different ratios of SA and PVA. The surface morphology, structure, interaction of polymers, the capacity to absorb water and the entrapment efficiency of quercetin were evaluated for the blended hydrogels. Targeting the cutaneous application of the formulations, the rheological properties of all unloaded and quercetin-loaded hydrogels revealed pseudoplastic behavior, evidence of non-thixotropy, good resistance to deformation, and profile maintenance with temperatures ranging from 20 \u00b0C up to 40 \u00b0C. The incorporation of quercetin in the hydrogel retained its antioxidant activity, confirmed by radical scavenging assays (ABTS and DPPH). The permeability of quercetin through the skin showed different penetration\/permeation profiles according to the hydrogel\u2019s blend. This behavior will allow the selection of SA-PVA at 2\/1 ratio for a local and prolonged skin effect, making the use of these hydrogels a good solution to consider for the treatment of skin ageing and inflammation.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/pharmaceutics12121149","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,11,27]],"date-time":"2020-11-27T02:13:51Z","timestamp":1606443231000},"page":"1149","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":64,"title":["Design and Characterization of Sodium Alginate and Poly(vinyl) Alcohol Hydrogels for Enhanced Skin Delivery of Quercetin"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Ludovico","family":"Esposito","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Ci\u00eancias Qu\u00edmicas, Faculdade de Farm\u00e1cia, Universidade do Porto, Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"Department of Pharmacy, University \u201cG.d\u2019Annunzio\u201d Chieti-Pescara, 66013 Chieti, Italy"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8690-3187","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ana Isabel","family":"Barbosa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Ci\u00eancias Qu\u00edmicas, Faculdade de Farm\u00e1cia, Universidade do Porto, Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3175-3844","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"T\u00e2nia","family":"Moniz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Ci\u00eancias Qu\u00edmicas, Faculdade de Farm\u00e1cia, Universidade do Porto, Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8777-5877","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sofia","family":"Costa Lima","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Ci\u00eancias Qu\u00edmicas, Faculdade de Farm\u00e1cia, Universidade do Porto, Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1152-3398","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Paulo","family":"Costa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"UCIBIO, REQUIMTE, MedTech, Departamento de Ci\u00eancias do Medicamento, Faculdade de Farm\u00e1cia, Universidade do Porto, Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0590-5429","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Christian","family":"Celia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmacy, University \u201cG.d\u2019Annunzio\u201d Chieti-Pescara, 66013 Chieti, Italy"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0736-2835","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Salette","family":"Reis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Ci\u00eancias Qu\u00edmicas, Faculdade de Farm\u00e1cia, Universidade do Porto, Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,11,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"696","DOI":"10.1080\/1023666X.2019.1662590","article-title":"Enriched physicochemical and blood-compatible properties of nanofibrous polyurethane patch engrafted with juniper oil and titanium dioxide for cardiac tissue engineering","volume":"24","author":"Jaganathan","year":"2019","journal-title":"Int. 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