Theoretical Importance of PVP-Alginate Hydrogels Structure on Drug Release Kinetics.

Background: The new concepts of personalized and precision medicine require the design of more and more refined delivery systems. In this frame, hydrogels can play a very important role as they represent the best surrogate of soft living tissues for what concerns rheological properties. Thus, this paper focusses on a global theoretical approach able to describe how hydrogel polymeric networks can affect the release kinetics of drugs characterized by different sizes.

Combined Used of Rheology and LF-NMR for the Characterization of PVP-Alginates Gels Containing Liposomes.

Purpose: This paper is based on the characterization of the rheological and Low Field NMR (LF-NMR) properties of an interpenetrated hydrogel made up by poly(N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) and sodium alginate. The final aim is to use the hydrogel as a delivery matrix for liposomes, widely used tools in the drug delivery field.

Methods: Rheology, LF-NMR, TEM, cryo-TEM, confocal laser scanning microscopy and release test were employed to characterize the interpenetrated hydrogel.