title: Thermally Responsive Hydrogel Blends: A General Drug Carrier Model for Controlled Drug Release.
abstract: Thermally responsive hydrogels have drawn significant research attention recently because of their simple use as drug carrier at human body temperature. Here we design a hybrid hydrogel that incorporates a hydrophilic polymer, polyethyleneimine (PEI), into the thermally responsive hydrogel poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAm), as a general drug carrier model for controlled drug release. In this work, on one hand, PEI modifies the structure and the size of the pores in the PNIPAm hydrogel. On the other hand, PEI plays an important role in tuning the water content in the hydrogel and controls the water release rate of the hydrogel below the lower critical solution temperature (LCST), resulting in a tunable release rate of the drugs at human body temperature (37 °C). Different release rates are shown as different amounts of PEI are incorporated. PEI controls the release rate, dependent on the charge characteristics of the drugs. The hydrogel blends described in this work extend the concept of a general drug carrier for loading both positively and negatively charged drugs, as well as the controlled release effect.
authors.affiliation: Materials Science and Engineering Program and Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas Materials Institute, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712 (USA).
authors.forename: Chongbo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Materials Science and Engineering Program and Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas Materials Institute, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712 (USA).
authors.forename: Ye
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Materials Science and Engineering Program and Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas Materials Institute, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712 (USA).
authors.forename: Danilo A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Pena
authors.affiliation: Materials Science and Engineering Program and Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas Materials Institute, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712 (USA).
authors.forename: Lele
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: Materials Science and Engineering Program and Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas Materials Institute, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712 (USA). ghyu@austin.utexas.edu.
authors.forename: Guihua
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yu
mesh_terms: D000180:Acrylic Resins / Q000737:chemistry*; D003692:Delayed-Action Preparations / Q000737:chemistry*; D065546:Drug Liberation; D020136:Hydrogel, Polyethylene Glycol Dimethacrylate / Q000737:chemistry*; D011094:Polyethyleneimine / Q000737:chemistry*; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D000180:Acrylic Resins; D003692:Delayed-Action Preparations; C052970:poly-N-isopropylacrylamide; D020136:Hydrogel, Polyethylene Glycol Dimethacrylate; D011094:Polyethyleneimine
keywords: controlled drug release; drug carrier; hydrogel blends; polyethyleneimine (PEI); thermoresponsive materials