Hydroxyapatite (HA)-based hybrid bionanocomposite hydrogels: Ciprofloxacin delivery, release kinetics and antibacterial activity

Abstract The current study developed a series of novel biomaterials based on the growth of calcium phosphate (HA) within the polyvinyl alcohol/κ-carrageenan (PVACar) hydrogels to assess their potential as drug delivery system. All synthesized samples were analyzed by using common techniques e.g. Fouriertransform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), transmission electronmicroscopy (TEM), scanningelectron microscopy(SEM)with an energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Ciprofloxacin (as a drug model) encapsulation efficiency and release performance of the samples were investigated. Experimental results showed that the incorporation of HA led to sustain release of ciprofloxacin, whereas about ~ 70% of ciprofloxacin was diffused from pristine PVACar sample during 30 h. The kinetic investigations showed the best fit with Korsmeyer-Peppas model with Fick's diffusion as the drug release mechanism.Moreover, the performance of ciprofloxacin-loaded hydrogels as antibacterial hydrogels was tested, which showed good antibacterial activity against Gram-positiveStaphylococcus aureus and Gram-negative Escherichia coli bacteria.