The consequence of imine bond origination: Fabrication of rapid self-healing chitosan hydrogel as a drug delivery candidate for water-soluble drug

Abstract

The burst release of hydrophilic drugs is a major challenge in the field of drug delivery which reduces the therapeutic value. Chitosan (CS) is one of the promising natural polymers along with incredible, non-toxicity, biocompatibility and biodegradability properties. In the present study, CS and crotonaldehyde (CA) were used for the fabrication of biocompatible, self-healing hydrogel through the formation of dynamic imine linkage. SEM images showed a cross-linked network-like microstructure of CS/CA hydrogel due to which significant swelling properties were also obtained. CS/CA hydrogel showed quick self-healing property within 2 min due to the formation of dynamic imine linkage between CS and CA which is further confirmed by rheology statistics. Good viscoelastic properties of the produced CS/CA hydrogel with different concentrations of CA were observed from rheology analysis (G′ = 1240 KPa). The proliferation of MCF-7 cells by MTT assay & CCK-8 in the presence of hydrogel proves its good biocompatibility and also showed controlled drug release of levofloxacin up to 50 h.