Fabrication of dual-sensitive keratin-based polymer hydrogels and their controllable release behaviors

Using feather keratin (FK) as a biocompatible and inexpensive biopolymer, a kind of dual-sensitive keratin-based polymer hydrogel (FK/PNiPA/PIAc-Gel) with interpenetrating network structure was prepared by two-step polymerization of N-isopropyl acrylamide (NiPA) and itaconic acid (IAc) in presence of crosslinker. After being characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and scanning electron microscopy, its swelling behaviors and environmental sensitivity were investigated. The obtained biopolymer based hydrogel has good swelling and deswelling performance, and it is sensitive to pH value, temperature and salts of environment. Using anticancer drug, doxorubicin hydrochloride (Dox·HCl),  and Bovine serum albumin (BSA) as different drug molecules, its release behaviors in different environment were investigated. It was found that the release behaviors of FK/PNiPA/PIAc-Gel were controllable via adjusting pH value or temperature of environment. The cumulative release of the anticancer drug (Dox·HCl) reached 93.3% within 16 h, and the cumulative release rate of macromolecular drug (BSA) got to 75.9% in 24 h. In summary, the keratin-based biopolymer hydrogel with interpenetrating network structure, pH-sensitivity and temperature sensitivity are potentially applied to sustain drug carrier and humid medicinal material in the biomedical field or clinical nursing field.