Alginate Hydrogel as Drug Delivery System

During recent decades, biopolymers have frequently been used as raw materials for the design of drug delivery formulations owing to their unique properties, such as non-toxicity, biocompatibility, biodegradability, and environmental sensitivity. Over the last few years, in particularly the use of alginate and chitosan as biopolymers have increased exponentially for controlled drug delivery. However, weak mechanical properties and burst release of the drugs are observed when neat biopolymers hydrogels are used. All factors affecting the burst release of the drugs and mechanical properties have been assessed. In order to find a new way to slow down the release of drugs and to solve the burst release problem of drugs from traditionally used alginate hydrogel beads, poly-ions coating materials e.g. chitosan and poly acrylamide solutions have been used. Additionally wettability, drying characteristics and surface area of alginate beads hydrogels were studied in terms of, drug release study and burst effect behavior.