Development and Evaluation of Gelatin/Polyacrylamide/Carboxymethyl Tamarind Kernel Gum Hydrogel for Delivery of Ampicillin Sodium

Gelatin-based hydrogels, despite their excellent biocompatibility, face limitations in their utility for targeted drug release due to low mechanical strength. Thus, this research is directed towards the fabrication of pH-responsive hydrogels based on gelatin, polyacrylamide (PAM) and carboxymethyl tamarind kernel gum (CMTKG), followed by their loading with ampicillin sodium drug. The hydrogel has been optimized by varying crosslinker, and initiator amounts to observe their effect on swelling. The swelling is increased with an increase ininitiator, reaching a maximum of 1371% at pH 7.4 and 1218% at pH 1.2. The hydrogels are analyzed through Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Powder X-ray Diffraction (PXRD), and Attenuated Total Reflection-Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) techniques. Various parameters such as drug loading, porosity, and gel fraction are evaluated. The in vitro drug release is evaluated in both pH 1.2 and 7.4 buffer, with higher drug release (63.3%) observed under alkaline pH. The kinetic modeling data validates the Korsmeyer-Peppas model (R²= 0.9871) to be the suitable model for the explanation of the drug release mechanism, suggesting the Fickian diffusion (n<0.5, pH 1.2) and non-Fickian diffusion (n>0.5, pH 7.4). Therefore, the Gelatin/PAM/CMTKG hydrogel shows potential for targeted release of ampicillin sodium in response to varying pH.