Injectable microgel-hydrogel composites for prolonged small-molecule drug delivery
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Updated: May 28, 2026

Injectable Supramolecular Polymer-Nanoparticle Hydrogels for Cell and Drug Delivery Applications
Published on: February 7, 2021
Daryl Sivakumaran1, Danielle Maitland, Todd Hoare
1Department of Chemical Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S 4L7.
Abstract:
The design and application of soft nanocomposite injectable hydrogels containing entrapped microgels for small-molecule drug delivery is demonstrated. Copolymer microgels based on N-isopropylacrylamide and acrylic acid were synthesized that exhibited both ionic and hydrophobic affinity for binding to bupivacaine, a cationic local anesthetic used as a model drug. Microgels were subsequently immobilized within an in situ-gelling hydrogel network cross-linked via hydrazide-aldehyde chemistry to generate hydrogel-microgel soft nanocomposites. Drug release could be sustained for up to 60 days from these nanocomposite hydrogels, significantly longer than that achievable using the constituent hydrogel or microgels alone (<1 week). Drug release kinetics could be readily tuned by varying the affinity of the microgel and hydrogel phases for drug-polymer interactions and the network density of the hydrogel phase.
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