The Chemical Engineering Department at the College of Engineering, University of Baghdad, held an PhD thesis examination titled:
Preparation and Characterization of Modified PVA Hydrogel and its Application as Drug Delivery System
This research focuses on developing semi-synthetic polymeric blended hydrogel films loaded with amoxicillin for effective antibacterial drug delivery. These hydrogels, based on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), polyethylene glycol (PEG), and a natural polysaccharide polymer, were characterized using various techniques.
Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) confirmed the presence of functional groups, showcasing strong O-H stretch due to alcohol groups in PVA. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) revealed changes in crystallinity due to physical crosslinking in pH-responsive hydrogels.
Antibacterial efficacy against Staphylococcus aureus (Gram-positive) and Escherichia coli (Gram-negative) was tested using amoxicillin-loaded hydrogel films. Results indicated greater resistance of E. coli to the released amoxicillin than St. aureus.
Further analysis of the hydrogel properties like water uptake, gel fraction, density, crystallinity, and solubility proved the homogeneity of components, hydrophilic nature, and antibacterial effectiveness, indicating potential use in drug delivery systems.
In the subsequent stage, iron nanoparticles were utilized to create magnetic field-responsive hydrogel films. FTIR demonstrated changes in absorption peaks attributed to the O-H band, confirming the incorporation of iron nanoparticles into the hydrogel matrix. X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed the presence of magnetite nanoparticles (Fe3O4) in the synthesized magnetic hydrogel films.
Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) revealed the morphology of both the iron nanoparticles and the magnetic field-sensitive hydrogel films, displaying consistent particle sizes and spherical shapes. Vibration sample magnetometer (VSM) results indicated superparamagnetic behavior of the iron nanoparticles due to their size-dependent magnetic characteristics.
In summary, this research successfully developed amoxicillin-loaded hydrogel films with enhanced antibacterial properties and subsequently created magnetic field-responsive hydrogel films by incorporating iron nanoparticles, showing promise for advanced drug delivery applications.
