Engineering Metal-Organic Framework-Biopolymer-Based Hydrogels for Therapeutic Delivery

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Biomedical Engineering
• Drug Delivery Systems

Background:

• Biopolymer hydrogels are promising therapeutic carriers but face limitations in strength, stability, and controlled release.
• Existing hydrogels struggle with poor rheological strength, physical/thermal stability, and limited swelling.
• Controlled therapeutic delivery remains a significant challenge for current biopolymer hydrogel systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop innovative metal-organic framework (MOF)-biopolymer-based hydrogels to overcome limitations of traditional hydrogels.
• To investigate the impact of integrating ZIF-8 and ZAF MOFs into chitosan/alginate and chitosan/gelatin hydrogels.
• To evaluate the enhanced physicochemical properties and therapeutic release kinetics of the novel MOF-hydrogels.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of MOF-biopolymer hydrogels by incorporating zeolitic imidazole framework-8 (ZIF-8) and zinc adeninate framework (ZAF) into chitosan/alginate (C/A) and chitosan/gelatin (C/G) matrices.
• Characterization of hydrogel properties including rheological strength, swelling capacity, thermal stability, and immunoglobulin G (IgG) release rates.
• Analysis of the interactions (ion-dipole, electrostatic, hydrogen bonding) between MOFs and biopolymers to understand their influence on hydrogel performance.

Main Results:

• MOF-hydrogels exhibited significantly improved rheological strengths, swelling capabilities, and thermostabilities compared to hydrogels without MOFs.
• MOF-C/A-hydrogels demonstrated superior rheological strengths over MOF-C/G-hydrogels.
• ZIF-8 hydrogels showed higher rheological strength and IgG release rates but lower thermal stability than ZAF hydrogels, attributed to ZAF's flexibility and steric hindrance.

Conclusions:

• The integration of MOFs into biopolymer hydrogels effectively enhances their mechanical strength, stability, and swelling properties.
• Exploiting MOF-biopolymer interactions allows for precise control over therapeutic release rates, balancing swelling and strength.
• These advanced MOF-biopolymer hydrogels represent a versatile platform for next-generation therapeutic carriers with tunable properties for targeted applications.