Preparation of polyacrylamide based microgels with different charges for drug encapsulation

Z-stack confocal images of fluorescein encapsulated cationic hydrogels at pH = 13. The series of images (left) are the same set of hydrogels at different heights. These images were taken using a 488 nm laser. The right image was taken from the middle of the hydrogels microparticles. Scale bar = 10 μm. The confocal fluorescence microscopy images provide strong evidence that the drug was encapsulated into the hydrogel particles and molecularly dispersed within the cationic and anionic hydrogels at pH = 13. An encapsulation efficiency of ∼45 wt% was obtained under these two conditions. The prepared hydrogels show a potential in the applications of drug storage and delivery.