The electric field assisted drug release from polyacrylamide hydrogels

The release mechanisms and the diffusion coefficients of salicylic acid -loaded polyacrylamide hydrogels were investigated experimentally by using a modified Franz-Diffusion cell at the temperature of 37degC to determine the effects of crosslinking ratio and electric field strength. The fabricated hydrogels retain their physical shapes and sizes during the experiments along with data reproducibility. A significant amount of salicylic was released within 48 hours from the hydrogels of various crosslinking ratios, with and without electric field. The release profile was found to follow Q vs. t^1/2 linear relationship. Diffusion coefficient, determined from the Higuchi equation, increases with electric field strength and reach maximum values at electric field strength of 0.1 V due to the electrophoresis of drug and it becomes saturated at electric field strengths between 0.5-10 V.