Kinetic release studies of nitrogen-containing bisphosphonate from gum acacia crosslinked hydrogels

Natural polymer hydrogels are useful for controlling release of drugs. In this study, hydrogels containing gum acacia were synthesized by free-radical polymerization of acrylamide with gum acacia. The effect of gum acacia in the hydrogels on the release mechanism of nitrogen-containing bisphosphonate (BP) was studied at pH 1.2 and 7.4. The hydrogels exhibited high swelling ratios at pH 7.4 and low swelling ratios at pH 1.2. The release study was performed using UV-Visible spectroscopy via complex formation with Fe(III) ions. At pH 1.2, the release profile was found to be anomalous while at pH 7.4, the release kinetic of BP was a perfect zero-order release mechanism. The hydrogels were found to be pH-sensitive and the release profiles of the BP were found to be influenced by the degree of crosslinking of the hydrogel network with gum acacia. The preliminary results suggest that these hydrogels are promising devices for controlled delivery of bisphosphonate to the gastrointestinal region. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.