Release behavior of amoxicillin from glycol chitosan superporous hydrogels.

Two kinds of amoxicillin-containing glycol chitosan superporous hydrogels, drug-dispersed and drug-conjugated, were synthesized as candidates for an efficient drug-delivery system to eradicate Helicobacter pylori. The swelling and drug-release patterns were investigated for application as drug carriers to cure gastric disease. Both the swelling capacity and swelling kinetics decreased with decreasing network mesh size associated with increasing cross-linking density. The drug-conjugated system showed much slower drug-release patterns than the drug-dispersed system, thus prolonging the drug-delivery effect. This difference in drug-release kinetics is attributed to the difference in the main release mechanism, diffusion for the drug-dispersed and hydrolysis for the drug-conjugated system.