Development and Characterisation of the Imiquimod Poly(2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethyl Methacrylate) Hydrogel Dressing for Keloid Therapy

The imiquimod-poly(2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethyl methacrylate) hydrogel (poly(MEO₂MA) hydrogel) dressing was developed for the keloid therapy application. Four groups of the hydrogels, including the imiquimod-poly(MEO₂MA) hydrogel, crosslinked with 0.2 mol %, 0.4 mol %, 0.6 mol %, and 0.8 mol % of di(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate cross-linker (DEGDMA), were synthesised and characterised for fabricating the imiquimod-poly(MEO₂MA) hydrogel pad. The lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of the poly(MEO₂MA) hydrogel was measured at approximately 28 °C and was used as a trigger to control the imiquimod loading and release. The loaded amounts of the imiquimod in the poly(MEO₂MA) hydrogel, crosslinked with 0.2 mol % and 0.8 mol % of DEGDMA, were about 27.4 μg and 14.1 μg per 1 mm³ of the hydrogel, respectively. The imiquimod-release profiles of two samples were characterised in a phosphate buffered saline (PBS) solution at 37 °C and the released imiquimod amount were about 45% and 46% of the total loaded imiquimod. The Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay was utilised to analyse the cell viability of keloid fibroblasts cultured on the samples of imiquimod-poly(MEO₂MA) hydrogel, crosslinked with 0.2 mol % and 0.8 mol % of DEGDMA. There was around a 34% decrease of the cell viabilities after 2 days, compared with the pure-poly(MEO₂MA) hydrogel samples. Therefore, the developed imiquimod-poly(MEO₂MA) hydrogel dressing can affect the proliferation of keloid fibroblasts. It should be possible to utilise the hydrogel dressing for the keloid therapy application.