Investigation of swelling properties, fluconazole release behaviors and microbiological interactions of poly(acrylamide-co-itaconic acid) and poly (acrylic acid-co-itaconic acid) copolymeric hydrogels

In this study, copolymeric hydrogels, containing different compositionsof acrylamide (AAm), acrylic acid (AA) and itaconic acid (IA) weresynthesized by free radical polymerization using ammoniumpersulfate/sodium methabisulphite (NH4)2S2O8/Na2S2O5) chemicalinitiator pair and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as acrosslinker. Their swelling behavior was investigated as a function oftime, pH and temperature. The percentage swelling (%S) of allhydrogels were increased with time but after 20 h, constant percentageswelling was observed. It is found that the swelling of pure poly(acrylicacid) (PAA) hydrogel is higher than the swelling of pure polyacrylamidehydrogel. The presence of itaconic acid in gel matrix influences theswelling percentages. PAA was determined as the most swollenhydrogel at pH=7,4 and 37,0° For the structural characterization ofC.these hydrogels FTIR spectras were taken and the absorption peaks forAAm, AA and IA were observed in all spectras. To determine themorphological properties of hydrogels, surface and cross-section SEMphotographs were attempted. The AAm hydrogel which has the lowestswelling value was displayed less porosity than other hydrogels. Thehydrogels which are appropriate for the vaginal medium were chosenand UV spectrophotometer was used to follow the release ofFluconazole from the entrapped hydrogels. All of the release studieswere carried out at pH=4,0 and 37,0ºC. It has been seen thatpoly(acrylamide-co-itaconic acid)-1 hydrogel (PAAmIA-1) released theFluconazole faster than poly(acrylic acid)-1 (PAAIA-1) hydrogel, whenthe release times compared. Both of the hydrogels were reached thetherapeutic values. In-vitro interactions of Fluconazole entrappedhydrogels with Candida Albicans (C.Albicans) were investigated and itwas found that the hydrogels inhibited the growth of C.Albicans.Science Code : 201.1.117Key Words : IA, AAm, AA, Hydrogel, Controlled Release, C.Albicans,FluconazolePage Number : 111Adviser : Prof. Dr. Mehlika PULAT