Chitosan/poly(vinyl alcohol) hydrogels as controlled drug delivery systems

In order to achieve hydrogel and drug release profiles, a comprehensive knowledge of the types, properties and syntheses of hydrogel polymer networks are needed. For this reason, a natural biopolymer hydrogel based on chitosan was described. Chitosan has many advantages, which meet the requirements necessary for the preparation of medical materials; for example, wound dressings. This article focused on the biomedical use of a chitosan hydrogel: chitosan–poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA). The method of preparation of hydrogels containing a drug as an active wound dressing was described. To obtain a hydrogel dressing to be applied in patients with burns or difficult curative wounds, gentamicin (an aminoglycoside antibiotic) was used as a medicament. The effect of the PVA concentration in hydrogels on the release rate of the antibiotic was examined. For this, the crosslinking agent of the hydrogel, glutaraldehyde, was used. The release process of gentamicin was described by using an equation of first order kinetics.