Incorporation of supramolecular hydrogels into agarose hydrogels—a potential drug delivery carrier

In this study, we investigated the incorporation of multi-component supramolecular hydrogels into agarose hydrogels to create novel hybrid hydrogels. The fracture stresses of the hybrid hydrogels were at least 20 times higher than those of supramolecular hydrogels. The hybrid hydrogels could be fabricated into different shapes, and they allowed other components to be incorporated. We used Congo red as a drug model to study the potential application of hybrid hydrogels as drug delivery carriers, and we used fluorescence microscopy to study the interaction between Congo red and the nanofibers in the hybrid hydrogels. The results indicated that the releasing profile of Congo red strongly interfered with the stability and structures of the supramolecular hydrogels.