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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Chitin-glucan complex (CGC) hydrogels were fabricated through a freeze–thaw procedure
for biopolymer dissolution in NaOH 5 mol/L, followed by a dialysis step to promote gelation.
Compared to a previously reported methodology that included four freeze–thaw cycles, reducing
the number of cycles to one had no significant impact on the hydrogels’ formation, as well as
reducing the total freezing time from 48 to 18 h. The optimized CGC hydrogels exhibited a high and
nearly spontaneous swelling ratio (2528 +- 68%) and a water retention capacity of 55 +- 3%, after 2 h
incubation in water, at 37 ºC. Upon loading with caffeine as a model drug, an enhancement of the
mechanical and rheological properties of the hydrogels was achieved. In particular, the compressive
modulus was improved from 23.0 +-0.89 to 120.0 +- 61.64 kPa and the storage modulus increased
from 149.9 +- 9.8 to 315.0 +- 76.7 kPa. Although the release profile of caffeine was similar in PBS
and NaCl 0.9% solutions, the release rate was influenced by the solutions’ pH and ionic strength,
being faster in the NaCl solution. These results highlight the potential of CGC based hydrogels as
promising structures to be used as drug delivery devices in biomedical applications
Description
Keywords
hydrogels chitin-glucan complex freeze–thaw cycles swelling ratio caffeine drug delivery
Pedagogical Context
Citation
Araújo, D.; Rodrigues, T.; Alves, V.D.; Freitas, F. Chitin-Glucan Complex Hydrogels: Optimization of Gel Formation and Demonstration of Drug Loading and Release Ability. Polymers 2022, 14, 785
Publisher
MDPI