Development and characterization of azadirachta indica gum-poly (2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) crosslinked co-polymeric hydrogels for drug delivery applications

Keeping in view the pharmaceutical and pharmacodynamic applications of azadirachta indica gum, in the present work, modification of azadirachta indica gum was carried out by graft copolymerization of 2-hydroxyethylmethacrylate (HEMA) onto polysaccharide gum in the presence of crosslinker to design network structure in the form of hydrogel for use in drug delivery carrier of a methyl prednisolone, a anti-inflammatory drug for colon ailments. The polymer was characterized by FTIR, 13C NMR, XRD, AFM, TGA and DSC analysis. It was inferred from the swelling results that monomer and crosslinker contentsused during co-polymerizations reactions have influenced the mesh size and crosslinking density of the hydrogels. The mesh size of the polymer varies from 10.26 nm to 49.96 nm. The release of drug was found in controlled manner with non-Fickian diffusion mechanism. The gum-poly(HEMA) hydrogels were found biocompatible, antioxidant and mucoadhesive in nature and could be explored as drug delivery carriers of methyl prednisolone for colon ailments.

Automated summary

In this study, azadirachta indica gum was modified to form a network structure hydrogel for drug delivery of methyl prednisolone. The results showed that the monomer and crosslinker contents used during the copolymerization reactions affected the characteristics of the hydrogel, and the hydrogel exhibited controlled release properties.