Abstract
In order to study the contribution of anionic polymer structural features to mucoadhesion, a series of 0.2% cross-linked copolymers (acrylic acid-methyl methacrylate) were synthesized using free-radical polymerization. Both infrared spectroscopy and acridine orange binding were used to characterize the polymers. The vertical tensile stress of these copolymers to rabbit stomach was studied using a modified tensiometer method, and was found to correlate closely with their degree of hydration. Degree of hydration is related to the expanded nature of the polymer network, which in turn is related to charge density, and this contributes significantly to the strength of mucoadhesion.A dual tensiometer apparatus was also developed to study the shear stress of mucoadhesives. The mucin-mucin shear stress was found to increase with applied weight to a limiting plateau value. The shear stress was found to decrease with addition of calcium and increase with addition of EDTA. It seems that the expanded nature of both the interacting mucus and polymer networks influences the strength of mucoadhesion.
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