Methods to prepare dopamine/polydopamine modified alginate hydrogels and their special improved properties for drug delivery

Abstract Dopamine (DA), a typical catechol-containing monomer, which has been well reported for its excellent applications in biomedical research, was used to modify alginate (ALG) hydrogel for better gel formation and performance which are needed for drug delivery. By our design, Polydopamine (PDA) particles embedded ALG hydrogel (ALG-PDA), two types of DA and ALG co-polymerized hydrogels (ALG-DA-AS, ALG-DA-SP) which were initiated by ammonia aqueous solution (AS) and sodium periodate (SP), respectively, were successfully prepared. The status of incorporated DA/PDA and their interactions with hydrogel skeleton were investigated by chemical structure, morphology and rheology characterizations. Interestingly, a self-gelation process was discovered during ALG-DA-SP preparation, which is supposed to be the crosslinking formation via the aromatic interaction and hydrogen bonding between catechol or o-benzoquinone modified ALG molecules. Such self-crosslinked structure was proved helpful to improve the structural stability of gel even in saline environment. The effects of DA, SP concentration on the self-gelation process were discussed. The good biocompatibility of PDA material was also confirmed by a cytotoxicity test. In loading and release experiments, all the modified hydrogels were proved to have better adsorption ability to gatifloxacin (GFLX) and more steady in vitro release behavior than pristine ALG hydrogel.