Formulation of pH-responsive highly swellable hydrogel scaffolds for controlled release of tramadol HCl: characterization and biocompatibility evaluation

Zainab Abdullah; Muhammad Umer Ashraf; Kashif Barkat; Syed Faisal Badshah; Umaira Rehman; Asma Razzaq; Asif Mahmood; Farid Ulhaq; Hitesh Chopra; Summya Rashid; Marian Valko; Suliman Alomar; Kamil Kuca; Rohit Sharma

doi:10.3389/fbioe.2023.1190322

Formulation of pH-responsive highly swellable hydrogel scaffolds for controlled release of tramadol HCl: characterization and biocompatibility evaluation

Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2023 May 26:11:1190322. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2023.1190322. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Zainab Abdullah¹, Muhammad Umer Ashraf¹, Kashif Barkat¹, Syed Faisal Badshah¹, Umaira Rehman², Asma Razzaq¹, Asif Mahmood³, Farid Ulhaq⁴, Hitesh Chopra⁵, Summya Rashid⁶, Marian Valko^{7

8}, Suliman Alomar⁸, Kamil Kuca^{9

10}, Rohit Sharma¹¹

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan.
² College of Pharmacy, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan.
³ Department of Pharmacy, University of Chakwal, Chakwal, Pakistan.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, Division of Science and Technology, University of Education, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan.
⁵ Chitkara College of Pharmacy, Chitkara University, Rajpura, Punjab, India.
⁶ Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Institute of Physical Chemistry and Chemical Physics, Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology, Slovak University of Technology, Bratislava, Slovakia.
⁸ Department of Zoology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁹ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Hradec Kralove, Hradec Kralove, Czechia.
¹⁰ Andalusian Research Institute in Data Science and Computational Intelligence (DaSCI), University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
¹¹ Department of Rasa Shastra and Bhaishajya Kalpana, Faculty of Ayurveda, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India.

Abstract

Introduction: The objective of current project was to formulate a system for controlled delivery of Tramadol HCl (TRD), an opioid analgesic used in the treatment of moderate to severe pain. Methods: For this purpose, a pH responsive AvT-co-poly hydrogel network was formulated through free radical polymerization by incorporating natural polymers i.e., aloe vera gel and tamarind gum, monomer and crosslinker. Formulated hydrogels were loaded with Tramadol HCl (TRD) and evaluated for percent drug loading, sol-gel fraction, dynamic and equilibrium swelling, morphological characteristics, structural features and in-vitro release of Tramadol HCl. Results and Discussions: Hydrogels were proved to be pH sensitive as remarkable dynamic swelling response ranging within 2.94g/g-10.81g/g was noticed at pH 7.4 as compared to pH 1.2. Percent drug loading was in the range of 70.28%-90.64% for all formulations. Thermal stability and compatibility of hydrogel components were validated by DSC analysis and FTIR spectroscopy. Controlled release pattern of Tramadol HCl from the polymeric network was confirmed as maximum release of 92.22% was observed for over a period of 24 hours at pH 7.4. Moreover, oral toxicity studies were also conducted in rabbits to investigate the safety of hydrogels. No evidence of any toxicity, lesions and degeneration was reported, confirming the biocompatibility and safety of grafted system.

Keywords: controlled delivery; controlled drug delivery; pH responsive; polymeric; toxicity studies; tramadol HCL.