ABSTRACT
A comprehensive two phase model is developed to describe the sustained release of a solute or drug from a biphasic hydrogel substrate. Such a material consists of a continuous hydrophilic phase (polymer backbone in water) and a dispersion of spherical microdomains made of the hydrophobic side chains of the polymer organised in a micelle like fashion. The solute or drug is assumed to be encapsulated within the dispersed microdomains, and to diffuse from the interior to the surface of the microdomain where it exchanges following a Langmuir isotherm. Mass transfer to the bulk phase occurs by desorption of the drug from the surface through a driving force that is proportional to the difference of surface and bulk concentration. Accordingly the drug is released to the surroundings by diffusion through the bulk. Depending on the values of the Langmuir constant and assuming well stirred behaviour in the interior of the microdomain, the present model results in either of the two asymptotic models developed in previous studies. The results of a parametric study show that the desired steady state flux of a specific drug to the surroundings may be obtained given appropriate values of structural properties of the material. This conclusion is further supported when using this model to simulate earlier experimental results. The polymer structural properties can be manipulated easily during the fabrication of dispersed-phase networks, as indicated by preliminary experiments.
