Preparation of isometric Liesegang patterns and application in multi-pulsed drug release system

Abstract

In this paper, the feasibility was demonstrated to turn Liesegang patterned gelatin hydrogel into the multi-pulsed drug release system. Calcium hydrogen phosphate (CaHPO4) crystals were selected as the Liesegang rings (LRs) materials. The structure of CaHPO4/gelatin was well tailored by adding the sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS) micelles or SDBS/cholesterol microcapsules. As a result, the completely isometric CaHPO4/gelatin LRs were prepared. The enzymolysis of gelatin with isometric LRs and cholesterol/SDBS microcapsules was carried out by using typsin. A stepwise kinetic curve of enzymolysis was obtained due to the obstacles of CaHPO4 rings. This result indicated that CaHPO4/gelatin LRs were potentially a versatile platform for the multi-pulsed release of various drugs. [Figure not available: see fulltext.].