Characterization and drug delivery studies on new hydrogels from Scleroglucan and ionic cross-linkers

摘要

Scleroglucan (Sclg) was crosslinked using three ions, borax, aluminium and iron. The rheological investigation indicated that the Sclg/borax system showed the highest strength when deformed by elongation while the strengths of the other two systems broke down, in terms of viscosity, at much lower values of the imposed strain. The tablets obtained from the gels showed remarkable differences in their swelling properties; nevertheless their release behaviour was quite similar regardless of the used crosslinking agent.