alpha,beta-polyasparthylhydrazide (PAHy) is a polymer at protein-like structure proposed as plasma expander and drug carrier~1. PAHy can be also used to prepare hydrogel systems and the use of glutaraldehyde (GLU) to crosslink this polymer has been reported. Nevertheless, PAHy-GLU samples undergo a limited swelling in aqueous medium which causes a very slow release of entrapped drug molecules such 5-fluorouracil and cytarabine. In order to overcome this problem, we have chosen as crosslinking agent the ethyleneglycol diglycidylether (EGDGE). Preliminary studies have evidenced an outstanding affinity of PAHy-EGDGE networks towards the aqueous medium and a high stability after chemical and enzymatic treatment. these properties point out the suitability of these hydrogels as systems to release entrapped solutes in a biological medium. Then, our goal is to study the potential use of these networks as drug delivery systems and for this purpose we have prepared PAHy-EGDGE samples containing tolmetin chosen as a model drug, both as water-swellable microparticles and as gel system. The effect of drug loading procedure on drug release rate has been evalauted and hemolysis tests have been performed in order to evalaute the ability of PAHy-EGDGE networks to reduce photosensitization processes induced by Tometin.
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