Preparation and characterization of novel silk fibroin/2-(N,N-dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate based composite hydrogels with enhanced mechanical properties for controlled release of cefixime

ABSTRACT

Hydrogels with improved mechanical properties have been particularly attractive for their applications in the biomedical area including wound healing. For this purpose, a series of novel composite hydrogels based on silk fibroin (SF) and 2-(N,N-dimethylamino) ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA) were fabricated. The swelling and mechanical tests indicated that an optimum design of hydrogel was essential to provide a high degree of water uptake, higher tensile strength and elongation at break values. Here, the S40D60 was exhibited superior swelling and strong mechanical characteristics than all the other hydrogels with different compositions. Furthermore, it was observed that the cefixime was released from the formulation of S40D60 in a sustainable manner and the drug release rate can be controlled by pH of the dissolution medium. According to these findings, it is suggested that the optimal formulation of S40D60 would be effectively performed in situ drug therapy for wound healing.

KEYWORDS:

• Drug delivery
• hydrogel
• mechanical characterization
• silk fibroin
• wound dressing

Acknowledgments

The authors would also like to thank Bilim Pharmaceuticals and Dr. Nurgul AKCIN ONEL for providing the samples of cefixime.

Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support the Research Foundation of Uşak University (BAP) under project number 2014/MF006.