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Photo-crosslinkable, thermo-sensitive and biodegradable Pluronic hydrogels for sustained release of protein

2004; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 15; Issue: 12 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1163/1568562042459751

1568-5624

Jun Bae Lee, Jun Jin Yoon, Doo Sung Lee, Tae Gwan Park,

Supramolecular Self-Assembly in Materials

Abstract —Thermo-sensitive and biodegradable hydrogels based on Pluronic tri-block copolymers were prepared by a photo-polymerization method. Two terminal hydroxyl groups in Pluronic F-127 were acrylated to form a Pluronic macromer. Photo-cross-linked Pluronic hydrogels prepared by UV radiation showed a gradually decreased swelling ratio with increasing temperature and exhibited a thermally-responsive change in the swelling ratio when the temperature was cycled between 10°C and 37°C. These hydrogels degraded slowly due to the cleavage of ester linkage in the acrylated Pluronic terminal end. When lysozyme, a model protein drug, was loaded in the hydrogels, bi-phasic protein release profiles were attained: a burst-free and rapid controlled release profile was initially observed for a one week period and a much slower sustained release was followed thereafter. The release rates could be controlled by varying the amount of Pluronic macromer for photo-polymerization. Keywords: BLOCK COPOLYMERSHYDROGELSPHOTOPOLYMERIZATIONDRUG-DELIVERY SYSTEMSBIODEGRADABLE