Title
A Self‑healable Hydrogel for Co‑delivery of Hot‑Melt Extruded System With Curcumin and Hesperetin Intended for Topical Application
Authors
[ 1 ] Instytut Technologii i Inżynierii Chemicznej, Wydział Technologii Chemicznej, Politechnika Poznańska | [ P ] employee
Scientific discipline (Law 2.0)
Year of publication
2026
Published in
Article type
scientific article
Publication language
english
Keywords
Abstract
EN Hot-melt extrusion is an effective method for enhancing the solubility of weakly water-soluble compounds through amorphization, but the obtained powder form does not provide sufficient skin adherence or residence time, thus requiring incorporation into a suitable carrier for topical delivery. Hydrogels can serve as an appropriate carriers for such systems, offering additional characteristics such as self-healing and pH-responsiveness. Therefore, our research aimed to develop a hydrogel carrier with distinct features for a hot-melt extruded system containing curcumin and hesperetin, both having anti-cancer activity against skin cancer. We used a double cross-linking method with tannic acid and aluminum ions to prepare three hydrogels with different ratio of these agents, characterized by ATR-FTIR and rheological tests. Swelling studies in buffers of varying pH and in vitro release tests in pH 5.5 showed significant pH-responsive swelling and varying release rates of active compounds, influenced by cross-linking degrees. The prepared hydrogels swelled significantly, with percentages ranging from 170 to 4016%, with the maximum swelling at pH 5.5. Hesperetin release was measured as 84.92±0.03%, 84.21±1.21%, and 80.75±2.76% in formulations H0, H1, and H2, respectively. While the release rate of curcumin increased with the degree of cross-linking, reaching 9.03±0.07%, 26.43±1.16%, and 27.31±2.51%, respectively. In addition, a qualitative analysis with optical microscope confirmed the produced hydrogel's self-healing characteristics. Our findings provide a novel approach to improve the co-delivery of amorphous curcumin and hesperetin compounds to the skin.
Date of online publication
14.11.2025
Pages (from - to)
27 - 35
Comments
Article number: 35
Open Access Mode
czasopismo hybrydowe
Open Access Text Version
final published version
Date of Open Access to the publication
at the time of publication
Ministry points / journal
100
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