Hydrogel (also called aquagel) is a network of polymer chains that are hydrophilic,

sometimes found as a colloidal gel in which water is the dispersion medium. Hydrogels
are highly absorbent (they can contain over 99% water) natural or synthetic polymers.
Hydrogels also possess a degree of flexibility very similar to natural tissue, due to their
significant water content. Common uses for hydrogels include

• currently used as scaffolds in tissue engineering. When used as scaffolds,

hydrogels may contain human cells to repair tissue.
• environmentally sensitive hydrogels which are also known as 'Smart Gels' or
'Intelligent Gels'. These hydrogels have the ability to sense changes of pH,
temperature, or the concentration of metabolite and release their load as result of
such a change.
• as sustained-release drug delivery systems.
• provide absorption, desloughing and debriding of necrotic and fibrotic tissue.
• hydrogels that are responsive to specific molecules, such as glucose or antigens,
can be used as biosensors, as well as in DDS.
• used in disposable diapers where they absorb urine, or in sanitary napkins
• contact lenses (silicone hydrogels, polyacrylamides)
• EEG and ECG medical electrodes using hydrogels composed of cross-linked
polymers (polyethylene oxide, polyAMPS and polyvinylpyrrolidone)
• water gel explosives
• rectal drug delivery and diagnosis

Other, less common uses include

• breast implants
• granules for holding soil moisture in arid areas
• dressings for healing of burn or other hard-to-heal wounds. Wound gels are
excellent for helping to create or maintain a moist environment.
• reservoirs in topical drug delivery; particularly ionic drugs, delivered by
iontophoresis (see ion exchange resin)

Common ingredients are e.g. polyvinyl alcohol, sodium polyacrylate, acrylate polymers
and copolymers with an abundance of hydrophilic groups.

Natural hydrogel materials are being investigated for tissue engineering; these materials
include agarose, methylcellulose, hyaluronan, and other naturally derived polymers.

PARAMETERS REQUIERED FOR SUSTAINED RELEASE DRUG DELIVERY

SYSTEM
Sustained release tablets and capsules are commonly taken only once or twice daily, compared with
counterpart conventional forms that may have to take three or four times daily to achieve the same
therapeutic effect. Typically, sustained release products provide an immediate release of drug that
promptly produces the desired therapeutic effect, followed by gradual release of additional amounts of
drug to maintain this effect over a predetermined period. The sustained plasma drug levels provide by
sustained release products often times eliminates the need for night dosing, which benefits not only the
patients but the care given as well.
The basic rationale of a sustained drug delivery system is to optimize the Biopharmaceutic,
Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic properties of a drug in such a way that its utility is maximized
through reduction in side effects and cure or control of condition in the shortest possible time by using
smallest quantity of drug, administered by the most suitable route.
The novel system of drug delivery offer a means of improving the therapeutic effectiveness of
incorporated drugs by providing sustained, controlled delivery and / or targeting the drug to desired site.
The goal of any drug delivery system is to provide a therapeutic amount of drug to the proper site in the
body to achieve promptly and then maintain the desired drug concentration.
There is a continuously growing interest in the pharmaceutical industry for sustained release oral drug
delivery systems. There is also a high interest for design a dosage formulation that allows high drug
loading, particularly for actives with high water solubility.
Oral route has been the most popular and successfully used for sustained delivery of drugs because of
convenience and ease of administration, greater flexibility in dosage form design and ease of production
and low cost of such a system. The sustained release systems for oral use are mostly solid and based on
dissolution, diffusion or a combination of both mechanisms in the control of release of drugs.
In this type of dosage forms, a sufficient amount of drug is initially made available to the body to cause a
desired pharmacological response. The remaining fraction is released periodically and is required to
maintain the maximum initial pharmacological activity for some desirable period of time in excess of time
expected from usual single dose.

MECHANISM OF DRUG RELEASE

On exposure to aqueous fluid, hydrophilic matrices take up water, and polymer starts hydrating to form a
gel layer. Drug release is controlled by diffusions barriers / or by surface erosion. An initial burst of
soluble drug may occur due to surface leaching when a matrix containing a swellable glassy polymer
comes in contact with an aqueous medium, there is an abrupt change from a glassy to a rubbery state
which is associated with swelling process with time, water infiltrator deep into the case increasing the
thickness by the gel layer. Concomitantly the outer layer becomes fully hydrated and states dissolving or
eroding. When water reaches the center of the system and the concentration of drug fells below the
solubility value, the release rate of drug begins to reduce. At the same time, an increase in thickness of
the barrier layer with time increases the diffusion path length, reducing the rate of drug release. Drug
release kinetic associated with these gel – layer dynamic, range initially from Fickian to annomalous (Non
– Fickian) and subsequently from quasi – Constant ( near Zero order ) to constant. In general, two major
factors control the drug release from swelling controlled matrix system. They include
1. The rate of aqueous medium infiltration into the matrix, followed by a relaxation process (hydration,
gelatin or swelling)
2. The rate of matrix erosion