Multi-Responsive Hydrogel Based on Sodium Alginate With Acrylic Acid and Methacrylic Acid: Impact on Normal and Cancerous Cells

Abstract

The application of sodium alginate (SA) in the field of hydrogels has attracted much attention. However, it remains challenging to fabricate sodium alginate-based biocompatible hydrogels with improved strength, high elasticity, porosity, and extraordinary adhesiveness. Herein, a hydrogel is constructed by SA and a copolymer of acrylic acid (AA) and meth acrylic acid (MAA), was synthesized via a free-radical polymerization (FRP) and reinforced by using dynamic cross-linker (Fe²⁺/Fe³⁺) with their carboxylate groups (COO⁻) like a chelating complex. The XPS validates the presence of dynamic Fe²⁺ (711 eV)/Fe³⁺ (714 eV) ions in the hydrogel scaffold. Porous structure contributes to improving the swelling rate (400%) which assists in drug delivery (80%) applications. The hydrogel has a well-interconnected network with a crossover point (G′ = G″) at 120 Pa with 8.52% strain and various factors viz. frequency temperature and time sweep study affect the gelation. The hydrogel exhibits a substantial surface area (25m²/g), pore depth size up to 350 nm, and height distribution histogram average size of 394 nm. The poly(AA-co-MAA) copolymer found actively targeting breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells and exhibited biocompatibility against HEK-293 cells and useful in water soluble controlled drug delivery.