| 초록 |
Hydrogel is a crosslinked polymer that can be swollen by water. It has been utilized for tissue engineering, and drug delivery applications due to its unique characteristics such as biodegradability and biocompatibility. In this study, we discovered a simple one-step method to induce fine crystals into hydrogel particles by combining granulation and crystallization processes. The hydrogel particles formed by dropping non-solvent having alginate into solvent having a crosslinking agent, resulting in rapid hydrogel formation. The particle sizes of drug inside the hydrogel particles were a few microns, which was influenced by drug and crosslinking agent concentrations. The crystal form and size were relatively uniform, and also the crystal growth was limited by slow diffusion rate within the hydrogel. In the pharmaceutical industry, this combined process could open a novel convenient process route of fine drug crystals with making the subsequent processes. |
