Development of hydrogels by radiation induced polymerization for use in slow drug delivery

•Swelling of hydrogels decreased with increase in radiation dose.•Swelling increased with increase in hydrophillicity of hydrogels.•Slow release of indinavir from sulfated hydrogels.•Drug release followed non-Fickian mechanism.

In the present work, in order to improve the drug release profile of indinavir sulfate, a potent inhibitor of HIV protease, controlled drug delivery systems in the form of hydrogels have been designed by a radiation graft polymerization method. These hydrogels have been prepared by using dietary fiber psyllium and binary monomers mixture of acrylamide (AAm) and 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulfonic acid (AMPSA). These polymers have been characterized with cryo-SEMs, FTIR, XRD and swelling studies. The swelling of hydrogels has been determined in solution of different pH, temperature and [NaCl]. in vitro release studies of model drug indinavir sulfate in different pH have been carried out to determine the drug release mechanism. The release of dug occurred through non-Fickian mechanism.