Anionic carboxymethylagarose-based pH-responsive smart superabsorbent hydrogels for controlled release of anticancer drug

Herein, we demonstrate the preparation of superabsorbent hydrogel (CMA-g-PAm) materials using anionic and cold water soluble carboxymethyagarose (CMA, a seaweed polysaccharide-based derivative) with polyacrylamide (PAm) through rapid microwave assisted grafting technique. The successful fabrication of CMA-g-PAm was verified by FT-IR, SEM, XRD, TGA and CHN analyzer. Effects of initiator, crosslinker, and monomer on the swelling behavior and grafting parameters have been thoroughly investigated. Moreover, the swelling behavior of the resulting hydrogels was systematically studied, and the results suggested they exhibit excellent pH and salt responsive behavior. The drug delivery application of thus fabricated hydrogel was further evaluated using doxorubicin (Dox) as a model drug to explore its possible applications. Release study results revealed that Dox release was significantly accelerated with decrease in pH from 7.4 to 5.0. Toxicity assays confirmed that the blank hydrogels had negligible toxicity to normal cells (VERO), whereas the Dox-loaded hydrogels remained high in cytotoxicity for A549 and Hep-G2 cancer cells. All of these attributes implied that the new proposed hydrogel (HK11) serves as potential drug delivery platforms for cancer therapy.