Investigation of the Effects of Cellulose Derivatives on the Kinetics of Drug Release from Cellulose-Based Hydrogel Using a Response Surface Method

The aim of this work was to investigate the effects of the nature and concentration of cellulose derivatives on the release kinetics of ibuprofen from hydrogel matrices using a response surface method (RSM). A series of cellulose derivatives, as methyl, hydroxyethyl, hydroxypropyl and hydroxypropyl methyl celluloses (MC, HEC, HPC and HPMC) were used as polymer platforms and their impacts on drug release were studied and compared to those obtained with a reference formulation prepared with HEC. It was shown that the use of HPMC in the gel formulation contributes to the improvement of drug release and consequently its biodisponibility. Indeed, the increase in HPMC concentration forms a controlled system release because polymer chains relaxation. The drug is released under the effects of two phenomena: diffusion and relaxation of polymeric chains. Thus, the kinetic release passes from the kinetics of case II towards Fickian diffusion.