Design of Cross-linker Free Biomaterials:Controlled Release Study

Biomaterials are enriched with characteristics that have transformed them into numerous therapeutic modalities. Oral drug delivery has advanced quickly and has offered many polymeric vehicles for control release of drug molecules. Some of them have very poor mechanical stability and they lack in material tunability, which causes an early degradation, or the burst release of drug molecules in the initial hours. To overcome these defects, crosslinkers have been introduced; however, they add potential toxicity to the system. In order to improve these shortcomings, we introduce strategies to design cross-linker free drug delivery vehicles. Sodium alginate and gelatin are the two FDA approved biodegradable polymers used extensively in this research. Throughout the investigation, these polymers were neither cross-linked or chemically functionalized to alter their native state. The aim was to maximize the potential of physical forces like hydrogen bonding, van der Waal’s force, electrostatic interaction in stabilizing these polymers against rapid dissolution. Sodium alginate and gelatin are charged polymers and their association led to the formation of pH responsive hydrogels with tunable properties. The physiochemical features of these hydrogels were studied in detail. The effects of plasticizers (PEG and glycerol) and monovalent salt (NaCl) were investigated in depth to understand their role in designing an ideal drug carrier