Effect of plant oil-based crosslinker on drug release behaviour of hydrogels

Thermoresponsive hydrogels have great potential in biomedical applications such as drug delivery systems and tissue engineering. Synthesis of hydrogels from renewable resources attracts attention day by day. In this study special type of thermoresponsive hydrogels were synthesized. These hydrogels are cross-linked hydrophilic polymers containing some biocompatible moieties which are derived from plant oils. Renewable resources based biocompatible materials are easily accessible, cost effective and also eco-friendly. This study is focused on synthesis of thermoresponsive hydrogels by using plant oil-based crosslinker. N-Isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM) was used as thermoresponsive monomer and acrylated methyl ricinoleate (AMR) was used as plant oil-based crosslinker. The effect of crosslinker to monomer ratio on polymerization was investigated. Spectrophotometric measurements of quercetin molecule, one of the phenolic flavonoids, were performed at room temperature (RT) and body temperature (37°C). It was found that quercetin molecule released from hydrogels to aqueous medium is higher at body temperature compared to room temperature and also the molar ratio of crosslinker to monomer affects the release behaviour of hydrogels significantly. Finally plant-oil based crosslinker AMR, derived from renewable sources, can be used for hydrogel synthesis instead of other commercial crosslinker.