Synthesis of carboxymethyl chitosan–guar gum–poly(vinylpyrrolidone) ternary blended hydrogels with antibacterial/anticancer efficacy and drug delivery applications

Abstract

Biopolymers have the utmost significance in biomedical applications and blending synthetic polymers has shown favorable characteristics versus individual counterparts. The utilization of the blends can be restricted through the use of toxic chemical agents such as initiators or crosslinkers. In this regard, a chemical agent-free ionizing irradiation is a beneficial alternative for preparing the hydrogels for biomedical applications. In this study, carboxymethyl chitosan (CM-CS), guar gum (GG), and poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) based ternary blends (TB) were crosslinked using various doses of ionizing irradiation to fabricate hydrogels. The prepared hydrogels were characterized for physicochemical properties, swelling analysis, biological assays, and drug delivery applications. Swelling analysis in distilled water revealed that the hydrogels exhibit excellent swelling characteristics. An in vitro cytocompatibility assay showed that the hydrogels have greater than 90% cell viability for the human epithelial cell line and a decreasing cell viability trend for the human alveolar adenocarcinoma cell line. In addition, the prepared hydrogels possessed excellent antibacterial characteristics against gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and gram-negative Escherichia coli (E. coli). Finally, the release studies of anti-inflammatory Quercus acutissima (QA) loaded hydrogels exhibited more than 80% release in phosphate-buffered saline (pH = 7.4). These findings suggest that TB hydrogels can be used as suitable carrier media for different release systems and biomedical applications.

ABSTRACT

Keywords:

• Carboxymethyl chitosan
• guar gum
• poly(vinylpyrrolidone) K-90
• electron beam
• crosslinking
• hydrogel

Author contributions

M.A.R. designed the experiments, performed formal analysis, analyzed the data, and wrote the original manuscript. S.A.K. assisted with the characterization of the prepared hydrogels. D.I.K. and M.K.S. performed the in vitro cytocompatibility and antibacterial experiments. S.S.H. validated the data and revised the manuscript. S.H.P. conceptualized, provided resources, and supervised the research. All the authors have read and approved the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no competing financial or non-financial interests.

Additional information

Funding

This research was sponsored by the Bio & Medical Technology Development Program of the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) and funded by the Korean government (MSIT) [Grant No. 2023M3A9J1091743].