Biocompatible thermo-responsive N-vinylcaprolactam based hydrogels for controlled drug delivery systems

Abstract

The treatment of several diseases requires drugs commonly administered orally or intravenously. Said administration has several drawbacks, such as low control of the necessary drug levels in plasma, making the treatment ineffective and, furthermore, side effects and low compatibility with the patient. Recently, the use of stimuli-responsive hydrogels in controlled Drug Delivery Systems (DDSs) has been considered an excellent alternative because of its inherent biocompatibility, responsiveness to physiological changes in the body, and diversity of both natural and synthetic material options. The present work focuses mainly on the synthesis, characterization, and drug release capacity of poly (N-vinyl caprolactam) (PVCL) and poly (N-vinyl caprolactam) microgels crosslinked with various concentrations of poly (ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA), which show temperature stimuli-responsiveness near the physiological temperature of the human body. For that reason, changes in the average hydrodynamic particle diameter at different temperatures are estimated and correlated with the drug release rate. The model drug chosen for releasing studies is colchicine, a potential drug for gout disease treatment, currently in disuse because of its low therapeutic index. It is expected that the use of the control release procedure by drug encapsulation in this polymer overcomes this drawback. The synthesis of PVCL homopolymer and three VCL-co-PEGDA hydrogels varying the PEGDA crosslinker concentration was successfully carried out by emulsion polymerization. Their characterization was performed by DLS and FTIR spectroscopy. Polymerization yields were estimated by total solids analysis, and UV-VIS determined the cloud points. Finally, the drug loading and release over time were monitored by HPLC and UV-VIS spectroscopy showing that drug release profiles obtained corresponded to a sustained drug delivery system.