Developmental toxicity assessment of thermoresponsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-acrylamide) oligomers in CD-1 mice.

Background: Although polymers and hydrogels are used successfully in biomedical applications, including implants and drug delivery devices, smaller molecular weight oligomers, such as those investigated here, have not been extensively studied in vivo. Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-acrylamide), or P(NIPAAm-co-AAm), has a unique thermoresponsive behavior and is under investigation as a novel drug delivery system for metastatic cancer treatment. To date, no studies have been published regarding the safety of P(NIPAAm-co-AAm) to the conceptus.

Synthesis and characterization of grafted thermosensitive hydrogels for heating activated controlled release.

Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide), PNIPAAm, hydrogels are negatively thermosensitive which means that they have an expanded hydrogel structure at low temperatures and a shrunken structure at high temperatures. Based on this negative thermosensitivity of PNIPAAm, a drug delivery system with PNIPAAm oligomers grafted onto poly(hydroxyethyl methacrylate) PHEMA, a thermally nonresponsive polymer was designed. Poly(hydroxyethyl methacrylate-g-N-isopropylacrylamide), P(HEMA-g-NIPAAm) hydrogels were synthesized to control the release of an imbedded drug.