Thermosensitive Chitosan Hydrogels Containing Polymeric Microspheres for Vaginal Drug Delivery

Authors:
Open Access
Publisher website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Thermosensitive hydrogels have increasingly received considerable attention for local drug delivery based on many advantages. However, burst release of drugs is becoming a critical challenge when the hydrogels are employed. Microspheres- (MS-) loaded thermosensitive hydrogels were thus fabricated to address this limitation. Employing an orthogonal design, the spray-dried operations of tenofovir (TFV)/Bletilla striata polysaccharide (BSP)/chitosan (CTS) MS were optimized according to the drug loading (DL). The physicochemical properties of the optimal MS (MS F) were characterized. Depending on the gelation temperature and gelating time, the optimal CTS-sodium alginate- (SA-) α,β-glycerophosphate (GP) (CTS-SA-GP) hydrogel was obtained. Observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM), TFV/BSP/CTS MS were successfully encapsulated in CTS-SA-GP. In vitro releasing demonstrated that MS F-CTS-SA-GP retained desirable in vitro sustained-release characteristics as a vaginal delivery system. Bioadhesion measurement showed that MS-CTS-SA-GP exhibited the highest mucoadhesive strength. Collectively, MS-CTS-SA-GP holds great promise for topical applications as a sustained-release vaginal drug delivery system.
Funding Information
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (81774125, 81573717, 2013GA740103)
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (81774125, 81573717, 2013GA740103)
  • Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China (81774125, 81573717, 2013GA740103)
  • Visiting Program of Weifang Medical University (81774125, 81573717, 2013GA740103)

This publication has 39 references indexed in Scilit: