Characterizing mass transport in hydrogels using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

Abstract

During the past decades, drug delivery system has become an important research topic in the pharmaceutical field. Conventionally, the therapeutic concentration of a drug in the blood is achieved by repeated administration in the form of pills or injections. Such administration results in an unstable drug concentration in the blood as it peaks shortly after the administration and rapidly declines afterwards. A drug delivery system delivers therapeutically active compounds in a controlled manner with respect to time period and release rate, and maintains drug concentration in the organism in the therapeutic window. The use of hydrogels for applications in areas such as drug delivery systems, tissue engineering scaffolds, contact lenses and wound dressings has become very popular due to their adjustable porous structure. Due to their non-invasive nature, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) techniques have been increasingly used to study drug delivery systems by monitoring molecular mass transport. In my dissertation, I have established a reliable methodology for determining the structural properties of hydrogels. Furthermore, I have investigated the effect of structural properties on molecular mass transport in hydrogels. Finally, I have examined how NMR and MRI techniques can be used to improve existing experimental procedures to characterize drug release from hydrogels.