Polymeric Hydrogel Nanocapsules: A Thermo and pH Dual-responsive Carrier for Sustained Drug Release

Jingya Nan,Fuxiang Chu,Chunpeng Wang,Ying Chen,Jifu Wang,Meihong Liu,Rutian Li

doi:10.5101/nml140022a

Abstract

Hydrogel capsules show attractive prospects in drug delivery recently because of high drug loading and sustained release behavior. In this study we reported a simple and convenient route to fabricate poly (acrylic acid)-poly (N-isopropylacrylamide) (PAA-PNIPAm) hydrogel capsules by using hydroxypropylcellulose-poly (acrylic acid) (HPC-PAA) complexes as the templates. The capsules showed a high drug loading (∼280% to the weight of capsules) for Doxorubicin hydrochloride. The release of drug from the capsules was responsive to the temperature and pH of the surroundings, showing a low-rate but sustained release behavior favorable for low-toxic and long-term therapy. Together with the convenient preparation, high drug loading, dual responsivity as well as the sustained release feature, it is implied that this polymeric hydrogel capsule might be a promising candidate for new drug carriers.

Highlights

In the past few decades, polymer-based drug vehicles have attracted significant interests in the development of drug delivery system mainly owing to the tailorability, easy-functionalization and biocompatibility of polymers [1,2,3,4,5]
The HPC-PAA template particles are prepared by the direct polymerization of Acrylic acid (AA) monomers in HPC aqueous solution according to the method reported by Hu et al [35]
We have demonstrated the convenient preparation of PAA-PNIPAm hydrogel capsules in this work, which were fabricated by a templated strategy in aqueous solution

Summary

Introduction

In the past few decades, polymer-based drug vehicles have attracted significant interests in the development of drug delivery system mainly owing to the tailorability, easy-functionalization and biocompatibility of polymers [1,2,3,4,5]. In order to enlarge the inner space of the PAA-based particles and gain further high drug loading capacity, we optimized the synthetic strategy in which HPC-PAA was performed as templates followed by the surface polymerization of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAm) and the removal of HPC cores, leading to the PAA-PNIPAm hydrogel capsules .

Results

Conclusion