Preparation, In Vitro Characterization, and Cytotoxicity Evaluation of Polymeric pH-Responsive Hydrogels for Controlled Drug Release

Abstract

The aim of the current investigation was based on the development of pH-responsive hydrogels of chondroitin sulfate, carbopol, and polyvinyl alcohol polymerized with acrylic acid in the presence of ammonium persulfate and ethylene glycol dimethylacrylate for controlled drug delivery. A free radical polymerization technique was used for the preparation of these pH-responsive hydrogels. The gel fraction of the prepared hydrogels was increased with the increase in the chondroitin sulfate, carbopol, polyvinyl alcohol, and acrylic acid content, while the sol-fraction was decreased. Swelling and drug release studies were performed in various pH conditions. Greater swelling and drug release were observed at high pH values (pH 4.6 and 7.4) as compared to low pH value (pH 1.2), representing the pH-responsive nature of the synthesized hydrogels. Porosity and drug loading were increased with the incorporation of high concentrations of hydrogel contents except polyvinyl alcohol, which showed reverse effects. Similarly, biodegradation study reported a slow degradation rate of the prepared hydrogels with the increase in hydrogel constituents. Cytotoxicity study proved the safe use of developed hydrogels as no toxic effect was shown on T84 human colon cancer cells. Similarly, various characterizations, including Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy, were performed for prepared hydrogels. Hence, we could demonstrate that the prepared hydrogels can be used as a promising drug carrier for the controlled delivery of drugs.

Chitin-Glucan Complex Hydrogels: Physical-Chemical Characterization, Stability, In Vitro Drug Permeation, and Biological Assessment in Primary Cells

“…Several studies demonstrated that higher swelling ability leads to increased drug loading and drug release rates. For example, Suhail et al [ 45 ] reported a decreased drug loading capacity of chondroitin sulfate-based hydrogels that presented lower swelling when compared to the ones with higher swelling.…”

“…However, a similar release percentage (>90%) was obtained after 130 min of the experiment. This difference might be attributed to the higher swelling ability of CGC-based hydrogels, at pH 7, which allows an increase in the drug release rate from the structure [ 45 ].…”

Novel Hydrogel Membranes Based on the Bacterial Polysaccharide FucoPol: Design, Characterization and Biological Properties

“…The porosity of the HMs has an important role in several physicochemical properties of the structures, mainly those related to swelling behavior and drug loading ability [ 37 , 38 ]. As predicted by the SEM observations, the hydrogels’ porosity decreased as the polymer content increased.…”

“…Moreover, those structures presented a Tdeg of 271–272 °C, which is slightly higher than the value displayed by FucoPol (266 °C). These results suggest that the HMs had higher thermal stability, likely given by the crosslinking and coordinate interactions between Fe 3+ and FucoPol [ 38 ]. Enhanced thermal stability was also reported for Fe 3+ -konjac glucomannan hydrogels, which presented a higher Tdeg (275 °C) than those of the other konjac glucomannan-based samples (235–265 °C) [ 16 ].…”

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“…Hence, repulsive interaction between nexus was significant. It means formulated hydrogel has good pH sensitivity, strength and swelling degree (Suhail et al, 2022).…”