Preparation, characterization, and swelling and drug release properties of a crosslinked chitosan‐polycaprolactone gel

Abstract

For applications in biotechnology to prepare biopolymers containing functional groups is essential. In addition, these materials have to be strong to provide physical support for practical applications. Recently, chitosan, polycaprolactone (PCL), and their various combinations were used for this purpose. In this work, we described the preparation and characterization of a new biodegradable polymeric gel containing chitosan and PCL. The gel preparation reactions were performed in suitable acetic acid solutions to obtain the products in high yields. A crosslinking agent was added to produce crosslinked gels. Swelling behavior of chitosan/PCL gels in different compositions was studied, and the results were compared. The chitosan/PCL gels show a rather large equilibrium swelling in water and in the phosphate buffered saline solution. Acrylic acid (AA) was added to these gels during preparation process to obtain a stable material for various applications. These polymeric gels were characterized by Fourier transform infrared. Their physical and morphological properties were investigated by using differential scanning calorimeter and scanning electron microscope techniques, respectively. Cell growth experiments indicate that chitosan, a positively charged polysaccharide, is not suitable for cell proliferation studies. On the other hand, the drug release studies were successful and, 59% of lidocaine, was released from a chitosan/PCL/AA hydrogel in buffer solution at pH ¼ 7.4 at 37

Magnetic field responsive methylcellulose-polycaprolactone nanocomposite gels for targeted and controlled release of 5-fluorouracil

“…PCL can also be blended with cellulose derivatives and other polymers for manipulating the rate of drug release from the scaffold. There are some reports in blends of PCL and cellulose nitrate [22], cellulose butyric ester [23,24], cellulose acetate-butyrate [16,25], cellulose acetate [16,26,27], long-chain ester of cellulose [9], ethylcyanoethyl cellulose [28], methylcellulose [29], poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) [30,31], and other polymers such as chitin or its derivative [32].…”

Characterization and osteogenic activity of a silicatein/biosilica-coated chitosan-graft-polycaprolactone

“…Consequently, several attempts have been made in the past to combine the mutually complementary properties of PCL and CHS, e.g. by blending in miscible solvents [8] or in one common solvent [11], grafting [12,13] or crosslinking [14]. Indeed, the hydrophilic nature of CHS improves the wettability and permeability of PCL-containing composites and, thus, accelerates hydrolytic degradation of PCL.…”

PABA Release from Chitosan-PCL with Induced Electric Current

“…Crosslinking of PCL with chitosan enables tunability of mechanical and degradation properties without affecting the DDS net charge since PCL is neutral [4][5][6]. Release of chitosan-bound drugs can be induced via stimulation of external electric field [7][8][9].…”