GELATIN-BASED BIOMATERIALS FOR DRUG AND CELL DELIVERY

Abstract

Gelatin is a natural material that is produced by partial hydrolysis of collagen. Gelatin is widely used in the biomedical field due to its biocompatibility and biodegradability. The objective of this thesis was to develop new carriers based on gelatin to explore their delivery application in the biomedical field. In the first part of the work, a core-shell-corona micellar complex self-assembled from gelatin-based graft copolymers with poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm-grafted gelatin) and methoxy poly(ethylene glycol)-b-poly(2-(dimethylamino) ethyl methacrylate) (MPEG-PDMAEMA) was obtained to solubilize hydrophobic drugs as a thermosensitive drug delivery system. In the second part of this work, gelatin was crosslinked by 1,1-Carbonyldiimidazole (CDI) modified ß-cyclodextrin (ß-CD) crosslinker to prepare crosslinked gelatin hydrogel for drug delivery. In the third part of this work, gelatin was crosslinked by a new poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) crosslinker succinimidyl glutarate terminated 4-arm poly(ethylene glycol) (MW 10000) sPEG-4A-GS(10k) to prepare gelatin-based microgel for cell delivery.