Hydrogels are three dimensional networks of hydrophilic homopolymers or copolymers generally covalently or ionically crosslinked. They interact with aqueous media by swelling to some equilibrium value by retaining the aqueous media in their structures. This study concerns the investigation of the swelling and the controlled drug release behaviour of hydrogels synthesized via the photopolymerisation process. The study of hydrogels in this project was oriented towards their biomedical applications as controlled drug delivery devices. It is a known fact that the complete conversion of monomers to polymers may not be achieved in the polymerisation process thus there is always a certain component of unreacted toxic monomers still remained in the polymer matrix. These monomers have the tendency to leach out of the polymer matrices when the polymers are in contact with an aqueous medium thus rendering the hydrogel to be nonbiocompatable. The polymers synthesized in this work were washed thoroughly in milli-Q-water and then evaluated in vitro for any possible toxic effect on human keratinocyte (HaCaT)v cells using a 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diaphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) cell proliferation assay. The cytotoxicity results indicated that the hydrogels understudy sustained and allowed a positive growth of the HaCat cells in the duration of the cytotoxicity experiment, thus proving to be satisfactorily compatible. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/216354 |
| Date | January 2004 |
| Creators | Swami, Salesh N., University of Western Sydney, College of Science, Technology and Environment, School of Science, Food and Horticulture |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Source | THESIS_CSTE_SFH_Swami_S.xml |
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