title: Hydrogels in pharmaceutical formulations.
abstract: The availability of large molecular weight protein- and peptide-based drugs due to the recent advances in the field of molecular biology has given us new ways to treat a number of diseases. Synthetic hydrogels offer a possibly effective and convenient way to administer these compounds. Hydrogels are hydrophilic, three-dimensional networks, which are able to imbibe large amounts of water or biological fluids, and thus resemble, to a large extent, a biological tissue. They are insoluble due to the presence of chemical (tie-points, junctions) and/or physical crosslinks such as entanglements and crystallites. These materials can be synthesized to respond to a number of physiological stimuli present in the body, such as pH, ionic strength and temperature. The aim of this article is to present a concise review on the applications of hydrogels in the pharmaceutical field, hydrogel characterization and analysis of drug release from such devices.
authors.affiliation: Biomaterials and Drug Delivery Laboratories, School of Chemical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette IN 47907-1283, USA. peppas@ecn.purdue.edu
authors.forename: N A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Peppas
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bures
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Leobandung
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ichikawa
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D002626:Chemistry, Pharmaceutical; D002627:Chemistry, Physical; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D006801:Humans; D020100:Hydrogels / Q000737:chemistry*; D010599:Pharmacokinetics
chemical_list: D020100:Hydrogels