Synthesis and properties of degradable hydrogels of konjac glucomannan grafted acrylic acid for colon-specific drug delivery

In this paper, we reported the synthesis and properties of novel hydrogel systems designed for colon targeted drug delivery. The gels were composed of konjac glucomannan (KGM), copolymerized with acrylic acid (AA) and cross-linked by N,N-methylene-bis-(acrylamide) (MBAAm). The influence of various parameters on the equilibrium swelling ratios of the hydrogels was investigated. The swelling ratio was inversely proportional to the content of MBAAm. It was possible to modulate the degree of swelling of the gels by changing cross-linking density of the polymer. The gels' swelling ratio has sensitive respondence to the environmental pH value variation. The results of degradation test show that the hydrogels retain the enzymatic degradation character of KGM and they can be degraded for 52.5% in 5 days by Cellulase E0240. In vitro release of model drug 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) was studied in the presence of Cellulase E0240 in pH 7.4 phosphate buffer at 37 °C. The accumulative release percent of 5-ASA reached 95.19% after 36 h and the drug release was controlled by the swelling and degradation of the hydrogels.