A smart drug delivery system based on Artemisia vulgaris hydrogel: Design, on-off switching, and real-time swelling, transit detection, and mechanistic studies

Abstract

Herein, we evaluate the swelling behavior and drug release attributes of Artemisia vulgaris hydrogel (AVH) after pressing into tablet form. The swelling response of AVH tablet and AVH based different tablet formulations of caffeine (CF) and levosulpiride (LS) depicted excellent swelling indices at physiological pH of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT), i.e., 6.8 and 7.4. Inverse swelling response of tablets to different molar concentrations of electrolytes, i.e., NaCl and KCl were observed. All tablets showed reproducible on-off swelling/switching behavior in water and ethanol, water and normal saline, and buffer of pH 7.4 and 1.2. The surface morphology of tablets was observed through a SEM and found porous which facilitates the absorption and retention of aqueous media. Real-time swelling behavior of tablet was observed through MRI. A minute amount of drug was released at pH 1.2, whereas, sustained-release at pH 6.8, 7.4 and in deionized water for 12 h was observed proving AVH as a promising biomaterial for developing pH-responsive sustained drug material. CF and LS release followed zero-order release kinetics and super case II transport mechanism. In vivo X-ray study showed the transit of tablet in GIT. Haemocompatibility studies of AVH confirmed its non-thrombogenic and non-hemolytic nature which broaden its application.