Executive Summary : | The oral route of drug delivery is the most common method, but developing sustained drug delivery systems (sDDs) for this route is challenging due to biological barriers in the gastrointestinal tract. Conventional carriers cause burst effects, support first-pass metabolism, and uncontrolled release kinetics, leading to low bioavailability and antibacterial resistance. Hydrogels have been developed for drug delivery applications for a long time, but single network and macro or microporous hydrogels cannot eliminate burst effects and achieve excellent bioavailability. The project aims to develop hydrogel-based advanced and burst-release-free drug carriers for oral route drug delivery. The scientific objectives include designing and developing biopolymer-feven-based photocrosslinking hydrogel using click chemistry, preparing a pH-triggered self-healing copolymeric hydrogel through free-radical polymerization, fabricating a core-shell hydrogel architecture by coating the levan-based hydrogel with the pH-triggered self-healing hydrogel, and investigating the release behavior of an antimicrobial-levofloxacin from the drug-encapsulated core-shell hydrogel. Biopolymer-levan offers significant advantages, such as functionality, biocompatibility, and biodegradability. The use of photo-initiated thiol-ene click reactions to form levan-hydrogel is due to its step-growth mechanism and fast kinetics, aiding in situ drug loading and homogenous hydrogel network formation. In vitro biocompatibility and degradability of the hydrogel will be performed, and the structure-property relationship will be established by determining the effect of crosslinking, porosity, hydrogel size, dose formulation, and pH-responsive shell on burst effect and drug release kinetics. |