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Preparation of hydrogels based on okra pods/chia seeds mucilage for drug delivery application

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Abstract

In recent years, the utilization of natural sources for hydrogel preparation has surged, driven by their economic and environmental advantages. The use of natural polysaccharides offers distinct benefits over synthetic counterparts, including non-toxicity, cost-effectiveness, biodegradability, and widespread availability. This study explores the enhanced properties of natural hydrogels derived from mucilages extracted from okra pods and chia seeds. The hydrogels, fortified with zinc oxide nanoparticles and loaded with nettle extract as herbal drug, demonstrate improved mechanical strength and elastic behavior. The characterization of prepared hydrogel through FTIR, SEM, TGA, and RMS techniques, along with rheological analysis, reveals enhanced features. The release pattern and kinetics of nettle extract in the buffered medium were studied. The result of nettles extract release showed that it is most suitable for the zero-order model, which states that during the release process, the drug concentration in the body remains constant and the release is occurred by the Fickian mechanism. Swelling behavior studies showed increased water absorption capacity in nanocomposite hydrogels. Antibacterial assessments confirmed significant efficacy against Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Escherichia coli, and Yersinia bacteria. These suitable properties indicate that the synthesized nanocomposite hydrogel is a good formulation to be used as a drug delivery system.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. The data and materials of the study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The financial support of this work by the University of Tabriz is gratefully acknowledged.

Funding

The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Polymer Composite Research Laboratory, Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

    Sabina Fazli, Sepideh Hezari & Ali Olad

Authors
  1. Sabina Fazli
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  2. Sepideh Hezari
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  3. Ali Olad
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Contributions

SF was contributed conceptualization, writing, and investigation. SH was involved in conceptualization, formal analysis, investigation, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing, and visualization. AO was performed supervision, project administration, funding acquisition, resources, and writing—review and editing.

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Correspondence to Ali Olad.

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The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests.

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This is an observational study. The Tabriz University Research Ethics Committee has confirmed that no ethical approval is required.

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Fazli, S., Hezari, S. & Olad, A. Preparation of hydrogels based on okra pods/chia seeds mucilage for drug delivery application. Polym. Bull. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-024-05221-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-024-05221-0

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