Biocompatibility and characteristics of injectable chitosan-based thermosensitive hydrogel for drug delivery

CS-alpha beta-GP thermosensitive hydrogel was prepared with chitosan and alpha beta-GP which could be transited into gel at 37 degrees C within 10 min. The hemolysis rate of blank CS-alpha beta-GP gel and CS-alpha beta-GP gel loaded with ADR was 1.37% and 1.32%, respectively. The injected CS-alpha beta-GP gel did not produce any significant changes in the haematology of SD rats such as white blood cell, red blood cell, platelet and the volume of haemoglobin. In addition, the levels of serum alanine aminotransferase, blood ureic nitrogen and creatinine had no obvious changes in SD rats of different groups. So the CS-alpha beta-GP hydrogel had good blood compatibility and had no hepatotoxicity or renal toxicity to SD rats. Furthermore. CS-alpha beta-GP hydrogel had good tissue compatibility according to the inflammatory reaction in SD rats. CS-alpha beta-GP thermosensitive hydrogel was a promising delivery system which might be used as a long-acting drug delivery vehicle. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.