Preparation and characterization of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate hydrogels for testing of anticancer drugs carriers

In present bachelor thesis, hydrogels based on 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate and methacrylic acid (pHEMA-MA) were prepared and characterized. Hydrogels could serve as a testing medium in the development of nanofiber polylactide (PLA) systems for local application of paclitaxel (PTX). This medium has been studied in an effort to create conditions that better correspond to the actual environment of a human body than commonly used liquid media. Local application of cytostatics in the treatment of solid tumors has a number of advantages. PTX represents a hydrophobic anticancer drug with serious side effects. Local distribution of presented drug using nanofiber carriers could greatly reduce the adverse side effects while increasing its concentration and duration of effect in target tumor tissues. The effect of the addition of polyethylene glycol (PEG) with a molecular weight of 20 kDa and β-cyclodextrin (CD) to the nanofiber structure was further investigated to optimize the release of the incorporated drug. The release kinetics of PTX from PLA nanofibers into pHEMA-MA hydrogels were studied using analytical method HPLC with UV detection. The experiment was also performed using an aqueous PBS solution as the release medium for comparison of the PTX release profiles. The sorption of PTX into pHEMA and..