Development of sterculia gum based wound dressings for use in drug delivery

The present study deals with the modification of sterculia gum to develop the novel wounds dressing for the delivery of antimicrobial agent (tetracycline hydrochloride). The sterculia crosslinked PVA (sterculia-cl-PVA) hydrogels were characterized by FTIR and swelling studies. For the evaluation of swelling and drug release mechanism, the swelling kinetics and in vitro release dynamics of model drug from this matrix were studied in solution of different pH and simulated wounds fluid. Per gram of polymer has taken (8.3 +/- 0.1) g of simulated wounds fluid and has released (0.820 +/- 0.6) mg of drug in the simulated fluid. The value of the 'n' (0.84) indicates the non-Fickian diffusion mechanism for the release of drug in simulated fluids. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.