Polysaccharide gum based network hydrogels for controlled drug delivery of ceftriaxone: Synthesis, characterization and biomedical evaluations

In the present work dietary fibers gum acacia (GA) and tragacanth gum (TG) were applied in designing drug delivery (DD) carrier due to their therapeutic role and colon degradation. The grafted product was formed in the form of network hydrogels with polyacrylamide [poly(AAm)]. The polymer samples were characterized by Scanning electron micrograph (SEM), Electron dispersion X-ray analysis (EDAX), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA). The formation of the grafted product and its heterogenous and amorphous nature was confirmed from FTIR, SEM and XRD. The mesh size of the network hydrogels was about 32.51 nm. The antibiotic drug ceftriaxone diffusion was non-Fickian from drug encapsulated GA-TG-cl-poly(AAm) network and release was fitted in first order kinetic model. The release of drug from network was slow and controlled manner due to drug-polymer interactions porous nature of the hydrogels. The polymer-blood interaction showed haemolysis values less than five percent which inferred biocompatible nature and polymer-biomembrane interactions indicated the muco-adhesiveness of the DD system. These properties reflected the suitability of the network hydrogel for site specific drug delivery.

Automated summary

In this study, dietary fibers gum acacia (GA) and tragacanth gum (TG) were utilized to design a drug delivery (DD) carrier that can degrade in the colon. The resulting product was a polyacrylamide (poly(AAm)) hydrogel network. Various characterization techniques confirmed the formation of the grafted product and its heterogeneous and amorphous nature. The release of the antibiotic drug ceftriaxone from the network hydrogel was slow and controlled, demonstrating its potential for site-specific drug delivery.