Thermally reversible hydrogels based on 2-methoxyethylacrylate (MOEA) as drug delivery systems

Hydrogels of poly(N,N-dimethylacrylamide-co-2-methoxy ethylacrylate) and poly(acrylamide-co-2-methoxy ethylacrylate) have been synthesised by radiation polymerization in dimethylformamide solution with trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate as a cross linker. In this work, it is reported the investigations about the release in vitro of gentamicin sulphate, an antibiotic entrapped in the hydrogels, in aqueous solutions. The result indicate that the release occurs practically in the first 24 h, the release rate is constant over a period of 35 hours and without displaying any significant burst effect. The evidence observed also indicates that the solute transport in the beginning of release is controlled by Fickian diffusion and fractional release of gentamicin is initially linear when plotted against the square root of time, as expected for a Fickian process. (author)