TY - EJOU AU - He, Xiaojuan AU - Li, Chanyuan AU - Wang, Shaokang AU - Zhu, Jingyi AU - Zhang, Yabin AU - Guo, Zhen AU - Wu, Lihua TI - Preparation and Sustained Release of 2-Hydroxyethyl Methacrylate -N-Vinyl-2-Pyrrolidone Hydrogel for Ophthalmic Drug T2 - Journal of Polymer Materials PY - 2024 VL - 41 IS - 4 SN - 0976-3449 AB - Eye drops are the usual method to treat eye diseases, and gel polymer provides the carrier which could be used for ophthalmic drug delivery. However, the stable and sustained release is the main issue for the ophthalmic drug and is concerned by many researchers. In this study, composite hydrogels were prepared using 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA), and N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone (NVP) used for ophthalmic drug loading and release. According to the results of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), the disappearance of the C=C bond in hydrogel indicated that the copolymerization reaction between HEMA and NVP was successful. The hydrogel was opaque and uniform, showing that the cross-linking process was random and even. With the addition of NVP, the water contact angle decreased, and the equilibrium water content increased. Due to the high porosity, the tensile strength of the hydrogel was reduced. The results of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy showed that Naphazoline eye drops (NEDs) were adsorbed by the obtained hydrogel. The transmittance was above 92% when NEDs were loaded in the hydrogel. The addition of NVP improved the drug loading capacity with a maximum of 80.7 μg/g. When the 10-h release was performed, the cumulative release amount reached about 70% of the total adsorption amount. Composite hydrogel with 10% NVP showed lower cumulative release compared to poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (pHEMA) when release operation was performed below 6 h. The linear release of hydrogel with NEDs showed the possibility of clinical application. KW - HEMA-NVP hydrogel; equilibrium water content; drug loading; sustained release DO - 10.32604/jpm.2024.055821