New self-healing hydrogels based on reversible physical interactions and their potential applications

Abstract

In the last years, responsive hydrogels have been widely studied due to their capacity to interact with the biological environment in a pre-programmed manner. Another aspect worth considering when synthesizing intelligent hydrogels is the introduction of self – healing characteristics, which can sustain the recovery of a material to its original shape.The study was developed as an extension of an ongoing investigation regarding new interpenetrated gels (IPNs) based on poly(N,N-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate) (PDMAEMA) and poly(itaconic anhydride-co-3,9-divinyl-2,4,8,10-tetraoxaspiro[5.5] undecane) (PITAU) and it was focused on highlighting not only the rheological properties and the behaviour in simulated biological fluids, but also to confirm the possibility of using this kind of hydrogel as a drug delivery system. The semi-IPN structure was achieved by crosslinking DMAEMA into a preformed network of PITAU. The IPNs swelling kinetics and self-healing capacity evaluated by visual observation and oscillatory rheology were investigated. The potential of these IPNs gels to act as drug delivery systems has been explored by loading them with ibuprofen, and the in vitro drug release has been evaluated. The in vivo investigation was conducted in order to demonstrate the biocompatibility of the studied gels after systemic administration in mice. The new synthesised IPNs exhibit self-healing characteristics with promising capacity to be used as a controlled drug delivery system.