A Thermoresponsive Hydrogel Based Controlled Drug Delivery Device

Thermoresponsive hydrogels exhibit the unique property of volume change as a function of change in temperature as they transition between hydrophilic and hydrophobic states. These hydrogels can be loaded with drug/protein and serve as reservoirs for drug/protein delivery applications. A hydrogel based device for controlled drug delivery is designed with a number of subsystems that are interfaced with LabVIEW for development of a functional device. The device was designed using analytical and finite element analysis procedures and fabricated. In this manuscript, the device design will be reviewed and discussed. A parametric study was performed to examine the device operation and performance as function of hydrogel heating/cooling temperature profiles. Subsequently, the device was employed in a series of experiments to examine the delivery of a protein as a function of thermal stimuli. The matrix used in this study was poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) and the drug delivery nanoparticles carriers were poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-acrylamide (PNIPAM) with a lower critical solution temperature (LCST) around 40°C. The protein of choice was bovine serum albumin (BSA). The results of this study illustrate that the development of a multi-drug or therapeutic delivery device is possible and that individual drugs can be delivered on demand using a closed loop control system.