synthesis of chitosan-based intelligent nanocomposite hydrogel and investigation of its behavior for controlled release of metronidazole antibiotic

The development of innovative drug delivery devices for different therapeutic agents has attracted the interest of many researchers [1-3]. in this study, chitosan/carbon nanotubes (chit/cnt) nanocomposite hydrogel was prepared through grafting chitosan with acrylamide and acrylic acid monomers in the presence of methyl base acrylamide and thermal initiator of ammonium sulfate. the structure of the prepared hydrogel was characterized using ft-ir, tga, and fe-sem technics. the antibiotic metronidazole was then loaded into the chit/cnt hydrogel. afterward, the behavior of hydrogel in the release of the metronidazole was studied. the swelling property of the hydrogel and the effect of some parameters such as ph and temperature on the release rate were investigated. the amount of released drug from the hydrogel was determined by uv-vis spectrophotometry. the results showed that the maximum drug release was obtained in the first 90 minutes under acidic ph of 4 and physiological temperature. the controlled and continuous release of the chit/cnt nanocomposite hydrogel made it the best choice in smart drug delivery.