Designing hydrogel based drug delivery devices

Recently, the prime focus of research across the globe is to develop advanced drug delivery systems to enhance their therapeutic potential and clinical safety and, to reduce the drawbacks associated with conventional drug formulations. Hydrogels are extremely reliable materials which have been explored for designing drug delivery (DD) systems because of their biocompatibility and physicochemical properties. The inherent properties of polymeric hydrogels which make them suitable for DD applications are controlled by their crosslinked network structures. Several theories and complex mathematical equations/models have been proposed to explain the network structure of the hydrogels. Their extensive knowledge is almost beyond the expertise of polymer chemists involved in designing of DD devices. Herein, simplifications of these equations have been carried out for their utilization to evaluate network parameters required to design hydrogels for DD devices. The significance of hydrogel swelling and its correlation with the various synthetic and physiochemical parameters and their influence on parameters of structural networking of hydrogel based DD systems have also been analyzed.