Investigating the effect of tetracycline addition on nanocomposite hydrogels based on polyvinyl alcohol and chitosan nanoparticles for specific medical applications.

Hydrogels have been used in many biomedical applications such as drug delivery and tissue engineering in recent decades. To improve the physiochemical and antimicrobial properties of these hydrogels and developing their applications, hybrid systems consisting of hydrogels, biodegradable nanoparticles and antibiotics were synthesized. In this regard, nanocomposite hydrogels based on PVA, 5% chitosan nanoparticles (NC) and various contents of tetracycline were prepared using freezing-thawing cycles and characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), gel fraction, swelling, antibacterial and cell viability studies, contact angle measurements, scanning electron microscopy, hydrolytic degradation and release studies. The FTIR studies showed the interaction between PVA, NC and tetracycline, and upon addition of 5% tetracycline gel fraction increases. Antibacterial and cell viability studies showed great antibacterial activity against gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria and cell growth in the presence of tetracycline. NC and tetracycline well dispersed in the hydrogel matrix and upon addition of tetracycline hydrolytic degradation and hydrophilicity increased. Finally, according to the release studies, the hydrogels mechanism perfectly fitted in Peppas-Korsmeyer and Higuchi models. Therefore, according to the results, nanocomposite hydrogel containing 5% of tetracycline can be suggested as a good candidate for wound dressing and novel drug delivery systems such as colon-specific drugs.