Development of dietary fibers moringa-sterculia gum hydrogel for drug delivery applications

Introduction: Keeping in view the role of polysaccharide gums in pharmaceutical applications. Herein this research, Moringa gum (MOG) and Sterculia gum (SG) polysaccharides have been explored to design the network structure in the form of hydrogels which can act as a wound dressing for better wound healing. Both gums are hydrophilic stem exudate and their anti-fungal and antioxidant activities have been reported for wound healing which can help the increase in wound healing potential of the antibiotic drug encapsulated hydrogel dressings. Objectives: To design the moringa gum, sterculia gum and polyacrylic acid based hydrogel wound dressings by graft copolymerization method impregnated with antibiotic drug levofloxacin for better wound care. Methodology: The co-polymers were prepared by grafting and crosslinking of the polyacrylic acid onto MOG and SG. The copolymers were characterized by cryo-SEM, AFM, FTIR, 13C NMR and swelling studies along with the evaluation of blood compatibility, wound fluid absorption, antioxidant activity, permeability (O2, H2O and, microbial), mucoadhesion, mechanical and in vitro release dynamics of antibiotic drug levofloxacin. Results and conclusion: The Cryo-SEM and AFM images of the hydrogels showed the porous nature and rough surface morphology of the hydrogels. The porosity in the hydrogel controlled the wound fluid absorption and drug diffusion from dressing. The release of the levofloxacin from MOG-cl-SG-co-poly(AAc) hydrogel occurred by the non-Fickian diffusion mechanism and release profile was best fitted in the Korsmeyer-Peppas kinetic model of drug release in the simulated wound fluid . The gum-based dressings were found permeable and antioxidant in nature. Overall, these hydrogels could be proposed as suitable materials for biomedical applications including drug delivery and wound dressing for better wound care.