Facile fabrication of a thermal/pH responsive IPN hydrogel drug carrier based on cellulose and chitosan through simultaneous dual-click strategy.

Herein, an interpenetrating network hydrogel (IPN-Gel) based on cellulose and chitosan was synthesized via simultaneous amino-anhydride and azide-alkyne click reaction in water in one pot. The samples were characterized by various analytical methods including FTIR, SEM, XRD, XPS, 1H NMR and so forth. The fabrication conditions were optimized by single factor experiments with water uptake (WU) and gel mass fraction (GMF) as two indexes. The WU and GMF of the IPN-Gel prepared under optimized conditions were 1192.37 % and 74.00 %, respectively. Its WU descended with the ascension in temperature, and first descended and then gradually ascended with the ascension in pH, confirming that the IPN-Gel had thermal/pH dual responsiveness. Using 5-Fu as a model drug, the release behavior of 5-Fu in IPN-Gel was explored. Its release behavior could be regulated by changing temperature and pH values, and it followed the Korsmeyer Peppas model. The viability of 4 T1 cells and HUVEC cells exceeded 80 % after 48 h of incubation at a high concentration of 200 μg/mL IPN-Gel, and hemolytic percentage was below the allowed limit of 5 %. The study provides a new strategy for the preparation of the IPN-Gel with biocompatibility, swelling reversibility and controllable drug release.