Preparation of pH/temperature smart response hydrogels P(DEA-AMPS-EGDMA) for controlled release of 5-fluorouracil

A temperature/pH-responsive hydrogel drug carrier was synthesized using a simple, convenient and green aqueous free radical polymerization method with N,N-diethylacrylamide (DEA) as the temperature-sensitive monomer, 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulfonic acid (AMPS) as the pH-sensitive monomer, and ethyleneglycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as the cross-linking agent, and the structure and properties. The study confirmed its good mechanical, elastic, and swelling properties as well as temperature and pH sensitivity. Then, 5-fluorouracil (5-Fu) was used as a model drug to explore the drug-carrying and drug-releasing properties of this hydrogel, and finally, its biosafety properties were investigated. The results showed that P(DEA-AMPS-EGDMA) had the highest drug loading and encapsulation rate of 326.84 mg.g ^− 1 and 16.72%, respectively, when the molar ratio of DEA and AMPS was 121 : 9. When the temperature was 37 ℃ and pH was 7.4, the highest cumulative drug release rate was 26.34%, and the drug release process was in accordance with the one-stage release model. The hemolysis rates of P(DEA-AMPS-EGDMA) were all lower than 1.9%, and the cell survival rates were all greater than 87.6%, which indicated that the PDAE hydrogel had good biosafety.