Abstract
Hydrogels are specific groups of polymers that are highly swellable in aqueous solutions, despite their water-in-soluble structures. Thus, they are promising drug delivery systems attributable to their unique characteristics such as high hydrophilicity, high controllability, facile production routines and, good biocompatibility. The aim of this research was the preparation of sodium alginate/acrylic acid composite hydrogels conjugated to silver nanoparticles to deliver the cephalexin as a model antibiotic compound. The reduction of silver ions into silver nanoparticles as well as the stabilization of created nanoparticles ensued simultaneously with hydrogel backbone formulation during microwave irradiation and monomer cross-linking processes. The impact of acrylic acid and silver ions concentrations and also the radiation time of microwave were then investigated on the main characteristics of hydrogels, namely, swelling ratio, gel fraction, cephalexin load and, antibacterial activity. The results indicated that the hydrogels’ characteristics could be significantly predicted by studied all independent parameters, through various second-order polynomial models. The multiple optimization analysis suggested that the prepared hydrogels using 7.8 g acrylic acid and 1.5 g silver nitrate and 1 min microwave radiation could give the best hydrogels with the highest swelling degree, gel fraction, cephalexin absorption and, antibacterial activity. The morphology and either absorption or release kinetics of cephalexin by/from the optimum prepared hydrogels were also investigated. No significant differences between the experimental and predicted data was confirmed the suitability of the suggested models.
Preparation of Injectable Composite Hydrogels by Blending Poloxamers with Calcium Carbonate‐Crosslinked Sodium Alginate
