Preparation and Evaluation of Hydrogel Nanoparticles as Drug Delivery System

Abstract

Hydrogel nanoparticles (NPs) can be used for colon drug delivery, utilizing Methotrexate (MTX) as a model drug. MTX loaded hydrogel NPs were prepared using Poly-acrylamide-grafted- gum ghatti (PAAm-g-Gg), which is pH sensitive. PAAm-g-Gg was synthesized by free radical polymerization. MTX loaded hydrogel NPs was prepared from PAAm-g-Gg by using nanoemulsification polymer crosslinking method. FT-IR and DSC studies of the prepared NPs indicated no chemical change of MTX in the hydrogel NPs. The prepared hydrogel NPs showed mean diameters in the range of 238 ± 0.57 nm to 1064 ± 0.99 nm. The encapsulation efficiency of the drug was found to be 39.11% to 48.84%. The suitability of the polyacrylamide grafted gum ghatti hydrogel NPs for the release of Methotrexate was studied by in vitro release at pH 1.2 and 7.4. It was observed that, there was no significant amount of drug release in gastric pH and 97.28% of drug release at pH 7.4 for formulation F6 at the end of 12 hrs. Based on result formulation F6 was considered as the best formulation and further evaluated for stability studies and characterized for surface morphology using SEM. SEM photographs have shown that the hydrogel NPs are spherical in shape and the stability study data indicated no significant change in the drug content.