Preparation and properties of oxidized hyaluronic acid-hydroxypropyl chitosan self-healing hydrogel

In this paper, oxidized hyaluronic acid (OHA) was synthesized by oxidizing hydroxyl groups on hyaluronic acid (HA) with sodium periodate. OHA/HPCS self-healing hydrogel was prepared by using OHA and hydroxypropyl chitosan (HPCS) as raw materials. The aldehyde group on OHA reacted with the amino group of HPCS to form dynamic imine bond through Schiff base reaction. In this paper, the microscopic morphology and properties of OHA/HPCS self-healing hydrogel was characterized by Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), UV-Vis spectrophotometer (UV-Vis), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), rheology and ¹H NMR. OHA/HPCS hydrogels have a porous structure, and the results showed that the pore size ranged from 70 to 200 μm by changing the amount of OHA. With the increase of the dosage of OHA, the pores in the OHA/HPCS hydrogels increased, the pore size became smaller, the swelling ratio of OHA/HPCS became smaller, and the degradation rate became slower. OHA/HPCS hydrogel could self-heal within 4 h at room temperature without external stimulation. OHA/HPCS hydrogel can release anticancer drug of gemcitabine in sustained way, with a cumulative release percent of 70%-84% in 12 days. OHA/HPCS hydrogels have the properties of sustained release gemcitabine, indicating that OHA/HPCS hydrogels have potential application prospects in the field of drug release.