Structural and biological properties of thermosensitive chitosan–graphene hybrid hydrogels for sustained drug delivery applications

Abstract

Chitosan has the ability to make injectable thermosensitive hydrogels which has been highly investigated for drug delivery applications. The addition of nanoparticles is one way to increase the mechanical strength of thermosensitive chitosan hydrogel and subsequently and control the burst release of drug. Graphene nanoparticles have shown unique mechanical, optical and electrical properties which can be exploited for biomedical applications, especially in drug delivery. This study, have focused on the mechanical properties of a thermosensitive and injectable hybrid chitosan hydrogel incorporated with graphene nanoparticles. Scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) have been used for morphological and chemical characterization of graphene infused chitosan hydrogels. The cell viability and cytotoxicity of graphene-contained hydrogels were analyzed using the alamarBlue technique. In-vitro methotrexate (MTX) release was investigated from MTX-loaded hybrid hydrogels as well. As a last step, to evaluate their efficiency as a cancer treatment delivery system, an in vitro anti-tumor test was also carried out using MCF-7 breast cancer cell lines. Results confirmed that a thermosensitive chitosan-graphene hybrid hydrogel can be used as a potential breast cancer therapy system for controlled delivery of methotrexate. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 105A: 2381-2390, 2017.

Hydrogels for Medical and Environmental Applications

“…Hydrogels have been widely researched in the recent times in the field of biomedical and biological research. [4,[23][24][25][26][27] Their porous networks and highly hydrated hierarchical structure allow them to mimic human tissue microenvironment. Their physical, mechanical, electrical, chemical, morphological, toxicological, and compositional properties can be modulated to be used in a variety of biological and biomedical applications like biosensing, drug delivery, cancer therapeutics, regenerative medicine, etc.…”

“…Drug delivery is another major biomedical application that holds an important pedestal in the areas of research worldwide. [3,4,10,22,25] Drug formulation and proper diagnosis are important, but it is equally important to deliver the proper drugs at the required spots in a controlled manner. With increasing cases of various forms of cancer, a lot of research nowadays involves finding different ways of curing it.…”

“…Hydrogels have been widely researched in the recent times in the field of biomedical and biological research . Their porous networks and highly hydrated hierarchical structure allow them to mimic human tissue microenvironment.…”

“…Drug delivery is another major biomedical application that holds an important pedestal in the areas of research worldwide . Drug formulation and proper diagnosis are important, but it is equally important to deliver the proper drugs at the required spots in a controlled manner.…”

Microneedles of chitosan‐porous carbon nanocomposites: Stimuli (pH and electric field)‐initiated drug delivery and toxicological studies

“…In this context, chitosan (CS) is used, which is semicrystalline, biocompatible, 22 and biodegradable chitin derivative obtained from deacetylation of chitin under enzymatic or alkaline conditions [23][24][25] having applications in numerous biomedical community such as tissue regeneration, 26 agricultural, 27 and drug delivery. [27][28][29] However, CS has poor mechanical strength which is not useful in certain applications. This can be overcome by the incorporation of Additional Supporting Information may be found in the online version of this article.…”