UC Berkeley

Topically applied anti-HIV microbicides are placed within a cultural, economic, and ethical context in order to motivate research into their development. This leads to the creation of a multi-scale, multi-step numerical model that incorporates gel spreading and drug diffusion. Use of this model allows conclusions to be drawn about how rheological characteristics of non-Newtonian gels affects the ultimate amount of drug being delivered into tissue. Dilution of the gels by natural fluid production has a strong effect on drug delivery, and osmolarity is investigated as a potential driver of fluid flow into (or out of) the lumen. The equations governing osmolarity driven solvent flow yield two dimensionless groups that can be optimized to produce improved drug delivery. Finally, osmolarity driven fluid flux is incorporated into the numerical model of gel spreading and drug diffusion, and an engineered gel is proposed.