Development of cornstarch-based hydrogel drug delivery patch controlled by the electric field for hypertension

Abstract

Abstract To study electrical controlling drug delivery from poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), PVA was prepared at various crosslink ratio. Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ), which is used to treat high blood pressure, was selected as a model drug. The release characteristic of hydrochlorothiazide from PVA matrix was a studied by using modified franz diffusion cells at pH 7.4 and temperature of 37 °C for 48 h. The amounts of drug permeation was characterized by UV-vis spectrophotometry. The degree of swelling and mesh size of crosslinked PVA was investigated. The degree of swelling increase with decreasing crosslinking ratio. The amount of drug permeation is decreased with increasing crosslinking ratio which corresponded to degree of swelling. When external electric filed was applied, the amount of HCTZ increases with increasing electrical voltage due to electro-repulsion force and generation of micropore in pigskin. To increase solubility and biodegradability of hydrogel matrix, corn starch (CS) was blend with PVA hydrogel. For passive permeation, the amount of HCTZ permeation from PVA/CS and PVA at similar crosslinking ratio is 7.56 and 7.93%, respectively. Thus presenting of CS do not affect the permeation characteristic.