Sepiolite reinforced alginate-based hydrogels for drug delivery applications

Cephradine is a first-generation bactericidal cephalosporin widely used for the treatment of urinary, respiratory and skin infections. When it is taken with the amount of 8–17%, this drug binds to serum, whereas almost 83–92% of it is released via the urinary tract without producing therapeutic action. The alginate-based hydrogels demonstrate lower stabilities and less drug loading efficacy. However, in the present work, we have prepared sepiolite (SEP) reinforced sodium alginate (SA)/poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) hydrogels cross-linked with 3-aminopropyl(triethoxy)silane (APTES) cross-linker. The fabricated hydrogels were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermal gravimetric analysis, which confirmed the development of the hydrogel interfaces. The hydrogels exhibited good swelling capability in distilled water that obeyed non-Fickian diffusion processes. The maximum swelling was exhibited at pH 8 in buffer and non-buffer solutions. In addition, swelling abilities of the hydrogels decreased with the increase in the amount of APTES. Degradation test confirmed their degradable nature for up to 7 days. In 7h, 81.32% of the cephradine was released and determined using a UV-visible spectrophotometer. Therefore, the biodegradable and pH-responsive SA/PEG/SEP hydrogel platform can be a valuable choice for the sustained delivery of drugs to deal with urinary and lower gastrointestinal infections.