Fabrication of Flexible pH-Responsive Agarose/Succinoglycan Hydrogels for Controlled Drug Release

• Main Authors: Yiluo Hu, Yohan Kim, Inki Hong, Moosung Kim, Seunho Jung
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-06-01
• Series: Polymers
• Subjects: hydrogels; agarose; succinoglycan; drug delivery; pH-responsive
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/13/13/2049

Agarose/succinoglycan hydrogels were prepared as pH-responsive drug delivery systems with significantly improved flexibility, thermostability, and porosity compared to agarose gels alone. Agarose/succinoglycan hydrogels were made using agarose and succinoglycan, a polysaccharide directly isolated from <i>Sinorhizobium meliloti</i>. Mechanical and physical properties of agarose/succinoglycan hydrogels were investigated using various instrumental methods such as rheological measurements, attenuated total reflection–Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopic analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). The results showed that the agarose/succinoglycan hydrogels became flexible and stable network gels with an improved swelling pattern in basic solution compared to the hard and brittle agarose gel alone. In addition, these hydrogels showed a pH-responsive delivery of ciprofloxacin (CPFX), with a cumulative release of ~41% within 35 h at pH 1.2 and complete release at pH 7.4. Agarose/succinoglycan hydrogels also proved to be non-toxic as a result of the cell cytotoxicity test, suggesting that these hydrogels would be a potential natural biomaterial for biomedical applications such as various drug delivery system and cell culture scaffolds.