Radiation synthesis and characterization of polyvinyl alcohol/methacrylic acid-gelatin hydrogel for vitro drug delivery

This paper describes the use of gamma radiation Co60 source as crosslinker for the preparation of gelatin based pharmaceutical hydrogels. Glutaraldehyde (GLU) (0.5% v/v) was incorporated after irradiation to crosslink the gelatin chains. Several samples of hydrogels P(PVA/MAA) were prepared by varying the ratio of PVA and MAA monomer. The swelling behavior of these hydrogels was investigated as a function of doses, concentration, copolymer composition (PVA:MAA ratio) and pH of the immersion medium. It was found that the swelling of test hydrogels was larger (8) in the alkaline medium than in the acid medium (3) and at pH 5.3 was the smallest (3). The characterizations of the hydrogels were performed by FTIR, SEM to evaluate the relationship of the structure and morphology of the hydrogels. The adsorption isotherm studies by batching techniques under the effect of different initial feed concentrations of drugs and MAA content of the adsorbent hydrogels will be investigated. Furthermore, for the evaluation of the pH effect on drug release from the prepared hydrogels, we studied chlortetracycline HCl and amoxicillin trihydrate release profiles at pH 2.2, 5.0 and 7.5. The pH-sensitivity of the novel polyelectrolyte complex would make an interesting drug delivery system.