Smart reticulated hydrogel of functionally decorated gellan copolymer for prolonged delivery of salbutamol sulphate to the gastro-luminal milieu

Abstract

A partially hydrolysed poly(acrylamide)-grafted-gellan (HPAmGG) copolymer was synthesised and characterised. Temperature- and concentration-dependent rheology and gel-like property of Gelrite gellan (GG) disappeared in HPAmGG copolymer. Smart HPAmGG hydrogel was fabricated with variation in aluminium chloride (AlCl(3)) strength and initial drug loading. The hydrogel reticulates seemed spherical and showed a maximum of ∼65% drug retention, but the assay was ∼22% lower for GG hydrogel. The drug release rate was inversely proportional to AlCl(3) strength in simulated intestinal milieu (pH 7.4), but approximated a proportional relationship with drug load. HPAmGG hydrogel liberated only 10-17% content in simulated gastric milieu (pH 1.2) in 2 h. The release data correlated well with the pH-dependent swelling of hydrogel and indicated the anomalous drug diffusion mechanism. Differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, and high-performance liquid chromatography analyses confirmed the amorphous nature of the drug and its stability in fresh and aged hydrogel. Hence, smart HPAmGG hydrogel had the potential to prolong drug release mimicking the variable pH of the gastrointestinal tract.

Bio-inspired composite films with integrative properties based on the self-assembly of gellan gum–graphene oxide crosslinked nanohybrid building blocks

“…GG is widely applied in food and cosmetics as multifunctional gelling, stabilizing, and suspending agents. Apart from this, GG has been utilized in biomedicine [59][60][61][62][63], and nanotechnology [64,65] and composites [66][67][68][69][70][71][72] in the material science field by taking advantage of its peculiar gelation and rheological properties [73,74]. For example, GG composites containing carbon nanotube [66][67][68][69][70][71] or graphene [72] as fillers were also reported to exhibit good conductivity.…”

Modified gellan gum hydrogels for tissue engineering applications

“…1 Aside from its widespread application in food and cosmetics, GG's unique suspending (dispersing), gelation and rheological properties have been utilized for biomedical purposes and in the processing of conducting llers. For example, GG has been employed as a versatile encapsulating agent and active ingredient in numerous controlled drug delivery systems for nasal, ocular, gastric and colonic drug delivery applications, [24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33] as implants for insulin delivery 34 and for wound healing applications. [35][36][37][38] In addition, we and others have used GG to disperse carbon nanotubes in aqueous media which enables subsequent processing into useful architectures by lm casting, [39][40][41][42] vacuum ltration, 43 inkjet printing 44 and extrusion printing.…”