Injectable In situ Forming Chitosan-Based Hydrogels For Curcumin Delivery

In this paper, a series of injectable in situ forming chitosan-based hydrogels were prepared by chemical crosslinking of chitosan and genipin with the cooperation of ionic bonds between chitosan and sodium salts at room temperature. Four hydrogels (A, B, C, and D) were obtained by mixing chitosan, genipin and a sodium salt of trisodium phosphate (Na3PO4 center dot 12H(2)O), sodium sulfate (Na2SO4), sodium sulfite (Na2SO3), or sodium bicarbonate (NaH-CO3) and examined for their characteristics, morphology, and rheological properties. Their cell viability assays exhibited low toxicity and the localized in situ gel formation was detected after subcutaneous injections in rat. Curcumin which possesses many pharmaceutical potentials but has low bioavailability, was chosen as a drug model. In vitro curcumin release profiles exhibit sustained release properties with initial burst release for all hydrogels with about 3 to 6 times higher cumulative release than other gel controls. The results of this study demonstrate that our hydrogels have a potential as local curcumin carriers.