Biological applications of nanocomposite hydrogels prepared by gamma-radiation copolymerization of acrylic acid (AAc) onto plasticized starch (PLST)/montmorillonite clay (MMT)/chitosan (CS) blends

Abstract

In this work, nanocomposite hydrogels were prepared by gamma-radiation copolymerization of acrylic acid (AAc) onto plasticized starch (PLST)/montmorillonite clay (MMT)/chitosan (CS) blends. The effect of irradiation dose and MMT nanoparticle contents on the gel fraction and water absorption characters of PAAc-co-(PLST/MMT/CS) hydrogels was investigated. In addition, the structure-property behavior of the nanocomposite hydrogels was characterized by FTIR spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The study showed that the appropriate dose of gamma irradiation to achieve homogeneous nanocomposite hydrogels films and the highest absorption in water was 15 kGy, regardless of composition. The introduction of MMT up to 5-wt (%) improved the physical properties and enhanced the drug uptake-release characters. The effect of the nanocomposite hydrogels on skin wound healing were evaluated by rat models, taking sulfanilamide as a model drug. The profiles of rat skin after different time intervals up 21 days revealed that wounds treated with the copolymer hydrogels were healed faster which it may considered as a potential candidate for wound dressing materials.