Abstract
Biocomposite hydrogels based on nanocellulose fibers (CNFs), low methoxy pectin (LMP), and sodium alginate (SA) were fabricated via the chemical crosslinking technique. The selected CNFs-based hydrogels were loaded with clindamycin hydrochloride (CM), an effective antibiotic as a model drug. The properties of the selected CNFs-based hydrogels loaded CM were characterized. The results showed that CNFs-based hydrogels composed of CNFs/LMP/SA at 1:1:1 and 2:0.5:0.5 mass ratios exhibited high drug content, suitable gel content, and high maximum swelling degree. In vitro assessment of cell viability revealed that the CM-incorporated composite CNFs-based hydrogels using calcium ion and citric acid as crosslinking agents exhibited high cytocompatibility with human keratinocytes cells. In vitro drug release experiment showed the prolonged release of CM and the hydrogel which has a greater CNFs portion (C2P0.5A0.5/Ca + Ci/CM) demonstrated lower drug release than the hydrogel having a lesser CNFs portion (C1P1A1/Ca + Ci/CM). The proportion of hydrophilic materials which were low methoxy pectin and sodium alginate in the matrix system influences drug release. In conclusion, biocomposite CNFs-based hydrogels composed of CNFs/LMP/SA at 1:1:1 and 2:0.5:0.5 mass ratios, loading CM with calcium ion and citric acid as crosslinking agents were successfully developed for the first time, suggesting their potential for pharmaceutical applications, such as a drug delivery system for healing infected wounds.
Highlights
Cellulose is the most abundant polymer produced by plants and microorganisms [1].Normally, cellulose is fibrous with intermittent crystalline and amorphous sections
We developed cellulose nanofibers (CNFs)-based hydrogels as a material-analogue to use as a carrier for drugs or other therapeutic biomolecules
This study found that the mass ratio of CNFs is a key parameter that influences the structure of the composite hydrogels that contained low methoxy pectin (LMP) and sodium alginate (SA)
Summary
Cellulose is the most abundant polymer produced by plants and microorganisms [1].Normally, cellulose is fibrous with intermittent crystalline and amorphous sections. Nanocellulose has high number of hydroxyl groups, high mechanical strength, renewability, and low cost [3] For these reasons, nanocellulose has been considered an ideal nanostructure for making new high-value materials in many fields and gained much attention and interest from researchers. CNFs have many unique properties, such as biodegradability, biocompatibility, high strength and modulus mechanical properties, large specific surface area, ability to form a strong entangled nanoporous network, as well as swelling in water and water absorptivity [6]. Due to their attractive properties, CNFs were selected to use as a biopolymer and investigated for their applications to be used as a nanostructure polymer to form a hydrogel
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