POSITIVE THERMOSENSITIVE PULSATILE DRUG-RELEASE USING NEGATIVE THERMOSENSITIVE HYDROGELS

Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) gel has negative temperature dependency of swelling behavior in aqueous solution. In this study, IPAAm copolymer gel was utilized to design positive thermosensitive pulsatile drug release system to induce drug release with increasing temperature and stop the release with decreasing temperature. Skin structure of the shrunken gel at higher temperature was controlled by introduction of hydrophilic acrylamide to allow drug release. Using an impermeable capsule equipped with a release orifice, positive thermosensitive pulsatile release was achieved by diffusion area-regulating mechanism, which was different from surface-regulating mechanism to achieve conventional negative thermosensitive pulsatile release. A new concept to convert negative thermosensitivity of IPAAm gels to positive thermosensitive pulsatile release has been demonstrated.