Extrusion-Based 3D Printing of Plant-Origin Flavonoids Using Aqueous Polyethylene Oxide Gel Inks

Background/Objectives. Flavonoids are a vast class of phenolic substances. To date, approximately 6000 plant-origin flavonoids have been discovered, and many of them have been used in drug therapy. Therapeutic flavonoids are commonly formulated to conventional “one size fits all” dosage forms, such as conventional tablets or hard cap-sules. However, the current trend in pharmacy and medicine is personalized drug therapy and drug delivery systems (DDSs). Therefore, 3D printing is an interesting technique for designing and preparing novel personalized pharmaceuticals for flavo-noids. The aim of the present study was to develop aqueous polyethylene oxide (PEO) gel inks loaded with plant-origin rutin (vitamin P) for semisolid-extrusion (SSE) 3D printing. Methods. Rutin (a model substance for therapeutic flavonoids), Tween 80, PEO (MW approx. 900,000), ethanol, and purified water were used in PEO gels at different pro-portions. The viscosity and homogeneity of the gels were determined. The rutin-PEO gels were printed with a bench-top Hyrel 3D printer to lattices and discs, and their weight and effective surface area were investigated. Results. The key SSE 3D printing process pa-rameters were established and verified. The results showed the compatibility of rutin as a model flavonoid and PEO as a carrier polymer. The rutin content (%) and content uniformity of the 3D-printed preparations were assayed by UV spectrophotometry and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Conclusions. The most feasible aqueous PEO gel ink formulation for SSE 3D printing contained rutin 100 mg/ml and Tween 80 50 mg/ml in a 12% aqueous PEO gel. The 3D-printed dosage forms are intended for the oral administration of flavonoids.