HYDROGELS AS EFFECTIVE DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEMS

Abstract

Hydrogels are cross linked polymer networks that absorb substantial amounts of aqueous solutions. Hydrogels can be divided into two categories based on the chemical or physical nature of the crosslink junctions. Chemically cross linked networks have permanent junctions, while physical networks have transient junctions that arise from either polymer chain entanglements or physical interactions such as ionic interactions, hydrogen bonds, or hydrophobic interactions