ABSTRACT
Objective To prepare an ultra-porous hydrogel capable of controlled release and investigate the drug loading, releasing, administration route and efficacy with insulin as a model drug. Methods The polymer interpenetrating network method was used to prepare ultra-porous hydrogels (SPH-IPN). Insulin was selected as a model drug to study the drug loading and efficacy. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance carbon spectroscopy were used to investigate the structure of the gel. The swelling ratio and porosity were measured to evaluate the gel performance. Results The drug loading capacity of insulin ultra-porous hydrogel was 3.19%. The insulin-loaded freeze-dried gel exhibited good hypoglycemic effect on diabetic rats in 1−24 hours from the experimental results on rats with subcutaneous implantation. Conclusion The subcutaneously embedded lyophilized insulin ultra-porous hydrogel provided good controlled release efficacy. It maintained stable blood glucose levels within 24 hours.