pH‐sensitive keratin‐based polymer hydrogel and its controllable drug‐release behavior

Abstract

Using feather keratin as biocompatible and inexpensive natural biopolymer and methacrylic acid as a functional monomer, we prepared a pH-sensitive feather-keratin-based polymer hydrogel (FKPGel) with grafted copolymerization. The obtained FKPGel was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and scanning electron microscopy. The swelling behavior and pH sensitivity of the FKPGel were investigated. When the small molecule (rhodamine B) and macromolecule (bovine serum albumin) were used as model drug molecules, the FKPGel exhibited controllable release behavior in vitro, and the hydrogels had pH sensitivity. For a small molecular drug, the cumulative release rate was 97% in 24 h at pH 8.4. For macromolecular drug, the cumulative release rate reached 89% at pH 7.4. Its release behavior could be controlled by the pH value. In summary, a simple method was found to reuse disused feathers. It is a kind of pH-sensitive hydrogels to be applied in drug-delivery systems.

pH‐sensitive polymeric particles as smart carriers for rebar inhibitors delivery in alkaline condition

“…Based on the FTIR results shown in Figure , the synthesized materials are rich in carboxyl, amine groups, which are helpful for interacting with the ions due to the electrostatic effect and cause the polymer swelling. Furthermore, the porous structure will be beneficial for drug loading and releasing . Therefore, this type of material is suitable for the absorption of drugs with polar groups and rebar inhibitors can be loaded in the polymer just by a simple self‐assembly process, which can be confirmed by Figures (c) and .…”

“…The equilibrium swelling properties could be determined by weight method . In order to make sure the polymeric particles had reached swelling equilibrium, they were immersed in the solutions for 24 h. The equilibrium swelling ratio (ESR) can be calculated according to the following equation: where W 1 is the dry weight of the polymeric particles and W 2 is the wet weight of the swollen particles.…”

Research progress on resource utilization of leather solid waste

“…For the biomaterials research, one of the hot spots is developing kinds of matrix or scaffolding system to mimic the structure and function of native tissue [6]. Due to the intrinsic biocompatibility, mechanical durability, biodegradability and natural abundance, the extracted keratin from tannery hair waste has been used to fabricate into versatile biomaterial forms including films, hydrogels, sponges, scaffolds and composites, which has been applied in biomedical field, such as, implantable biomedical materials [29,30], nerve defect repair materials [31,32], wound repair materials [33,34], blood contact materials [35] and drug sustained release materials [36,37].…”

Elaboration of a feather keratin/carboxymethyl cellulose complex exhibiting pH sensitivity for sustained pesticide release

“…Feathers are a valuable source of renewable proteins and represent the most abundant keratin in the world. However, the accumulation of a large number of discarded feathers in poultry and its low utilization rate has caused environmental problems that prove to be difficult to overcome . Feathers mainly consist of feather keratin (FK) which exhibits good biocompatibility, biodegradability, and nontoxicity.…”