Synthesis of chitosan-based hydrogels as a novel drug release device for wound healing

Abstract

The development of the porous, biocompatible and biodegradable hydrogels has been gaining much attention for wound dressing applications. The hydrogels prepared using freeze-thawing method present important properties of high biocompatibility and nontoxicity. The hydrogels that are able to release drugs for prolonged time are widely used biomaterials for wound healing. In this study chitosan (CS)-based poly-?-caprolactone (PCL) hydrogels were prepared using poly vinyl alcohol (PVA), poly ethylene glycol (PEG) and poly vinyl pyrrolidone (PVP). PVA-CS-PCL hydrogels only could remain stable at room temperature after synthesis. The properties of the hydrogels were determined with SEM, FTIR, swelling tests and degradation tests. The drugs of ceftazidime (CZ) as an antibiotic and ketoprofen (KP) as an analgesic were loaded onto the hydrogels and the loaded hydrogels were used for the drug release studies at pH 5.5 and pH 7.4. All these results suggest that the developed PVA-CS-PCL hydrogels offer significant potential as a wound dressing material.