Facile synthesis of interpenetrating polymeric nexus for controlled drug delivery of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)

The purpose of the current research study was to formulate and evaluate a fenugreek (FG) and agarose (AG) base hydrogel exploiting pH-responsive attributes and colon targeting of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). A novel 5-FU loaded fenugreek (FG) and agarose (AG) base hydrogel was formulated via free radical polymerization by employing N’, N’methylene bisacrylamide (MBA) as a crosslinker and methacrylic acid as a monomer. The influence of substrate concentrations (FG, AG, MBA, and MAA) was studied on the swelling index, sol–gel fraction, and drug release rate (%). It was also evaluated that as the concentration of fenugreek and agarose increases, drug release increases to 94.35 ± 0.34 (%) at pH 7.4 and 13.34 ± 0.34 (%) at pH 1.2. However, an increase in MAA concentration further leads to an increase in swelling, 95.87 ± 0.23 at pH 7.4 and 14.35 ± 0.74 at pH 1.2. Moreover, MBA concentration could significantly and directly influence the swelling of hydrogels owing to the variation of crosslinking density. An increase in MBA concentration results in a significant decrease in swelling. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) depicted the grafting of polymers (FG and AG) and monomers (MAA). Thermal behavior showed that the formulated nexus protects the drug and substrate from degradation. The X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) revealed that the entrapment of the drug within the nexus mimicked its crystalline behavior. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) elucidates the porous, rough, irregular, and asymmetric nature of the nexus. Toxicity studies showed that the best-selected optimized formulated nexus (F9) is biocompatible, non-toxic, and promising for targeted delivery of 5-FU for curing colorectal cancer. Graphical Abstract