Development of chemically cross-linked hydrophilic-hydrophobic hydrogels for drug delivery applications

摘要

The main aim of this study was to examine the potential of hydrophlilic-hydrophobic chemically crosslinked polymers as vehicles for drug delivery. To this end, a range of polypropyleneglycol dimethacrylate/polyethyleneglycol dimethacrylate (PPGDMA/PEGDMA) and polypropyleneglycol diacrylate/polyethyleneglycol dimethacrylate (PPGDA/PEGDMA) hydrogels were photopolymerised using UV light. Thereafter, the chemical, rheological and mechanical properties were evaluated, where it was revealed that the presence of the methyl group on the PPGDMA/PEGDMA hydrogel had no statistically significant effect on the gel fraction, storage loss modulus, or tan delta. In terms of mechanical properties, the 75 wt% PPGDMA/PEGDMA and PPGDA/PEGDMA hydrogels had the highest compressive modulus, with values of 9.02 MPa and 8.47 MPa recorded respectively. Drug release was examined for two anti-inflammatory agents; dexamethasone and diclofenac sodium, where it was revealed that the concentration of the PPGDA in the PPGDA/PEGDMA had no significant effect on the release profile of dexamethasone. However, the size and interaction of the drug with the hydrogel appears to alter the release profile, as the larger, acidic dexamethasone drug was eluted faster than the smaller, ionic, basic diclofenac sodium agent. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.