Design and evaluation of chitosan-β-cyclodextrin based thermosensitive hydrogel

• The hydrogel was prepared with chitosan, β-cyclodextrin and αβ-glycerol phosphate.
• The thermosensitivity, SEM, FT/IR and release efficiency of the hydrogel were studied.
• The hydrogel had good sustained releases efficiency on the hydrophobic drug.
• CS-β-CD hydrogel and CS-β-CD-In hydrogel were best fit with Peppas model.

The thermosensitive hydrogel was prepared by embedding β-cyclodextrin into chitosan/αβ-glycerol phosphate system. The optimal parameters were that the ratio of CS/β-CD was 2/1 (w/w) and the ratio of CS-β-CD/αβ-GP was 9.0/1.0 (v/v), where the gelation time was less than 3 min. The hydrogels had obvious lamellar structure, self-comparability, fractal characteristic and had good sustained release efficiency on the hydrophobic drug. Furthermore, the release rate of CS-β-CD-In hydrogel was slower than that of CS-β-CD hydrogel which indicated that the model drug (Asprin), added as Asp-β-CD inclusion, was beneficial for sustaining the release from the modified hydrogel system. The analysis of release kinetics indicated that both CS-β-CD based hydrogel and CS-β-CD-In hydrogel showed best fit with Peppas model and had potential as sustained release drug delivery system.