Preparation and performance of chitosan/cyclodextrin-g-glutamic acid thermosensitive hydrogel

Chitosan hydrogel had been widely used in cell culture and tissue engineering, but its long gel time, weak mechanical strength, and weak antibacterial performance limited its application. In this study, the cyclodextrin grafted glutamic acid, a water-soluble cyclodextrin derivatives, was prepared by glutamic acid (Glu) and mono-(6-OTs)-β-CD under alkaline conditions and confirmed by FTIR and ¹H NMR. Then chitosan (CS) and cyclodextrin grafted glutamic acid (CD-g-Glu) were used to prepare chitosan/cyclodextrin derivatives thermosensitive hydrogel (CS/CD-g-Glu) to improve the properties of chitosan-based thermosensitive hydrogels. The CS/CD-g-Glu hydrogel had temperature sensitivity and stable three-dimensional network structure. In addition, the hydrogel loaded with berberine hydrochloride (BBH) showed optimal sustained-release effect, and the cumulative release rate was 57% in 24 h. More importantly, the CS/CD-g-Glu hydrogel loaded with BBH showed prefect antibacterial activity against E. coli and S. aureus. Therefore, the CS/CD-g-Glu hydrogel has great promising applications in drug delivery, tissue engineering, biotechnological, and biomedical fields.