Tramadol loading, release and iontophoretic characteristics of ion-exchange fiber

The objective of this study was to investigate the drug loading, release and iontophoretic characteristics of strong acidic ion-exchange fiber, using tramadol hydrochloride as a model drug. The complex of charged model drug and ion-exchange fiber was studied as a new approach to achieve controlled drug delivery. Structural characterization of the fiber was elucidated through different approaches including differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and infrared spectroscopy (IR). And the mechanism of drug binding into ion-exchange fibers was validated to be ion-exchange. The drug loading into and release from ion-exchange fiber were affected by the concentration, volume and valence of the counter-ions in the external solution. Iontophoresis could significantly increase the delivery rate and amount of transdermal drug, and the iontophoretic dose could be easily controlled by adjusting the current intensity and the amount of release medium. The tramadol could be steadily released both from the drug-loaded fiber and drug solution when applied the iontophoretic method, which was in disagreement with the previous publications. As a drug reservoir, ion-exchange fiber has good regularity of drug loading, release and iontophoretic characteristics.