Preparation of antioxidant-biodegradable poly(acrylic acid-co-2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) hydrogel using rutin as a crosslinker: Drug release and anticancer activity

It is important to develop drug-release systems that reduce the side effects of chemotherapy drugs, can regulate drug release, and can be designed for a target to keep the quality of life of cancer patients high. In this study, a polyphenol compound rutin was used as a natural crosslinker to prepare poly(acrylic acid-co-2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate)/rutin (RTN hydrogel) as a drug carrier. The swelling behavior, thermal stability, in vitro biode-gradability, and antioxidant activity of this hydrogel were determined. The prepared hydrogel had in vitro biodegradability and antioxidant properties. The maximum doxorubicin (DOX) amount adsorbed by the RTN hydrogel was 32.96 & PLUSMN; 1.83 mg/g. The DOX-loaded RTN hydrogel displayed drug release behavior in normal and cancer cell media. At the same time, the effect of the DOX-loaded hydrogel on triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) cell lines was investigated. Our results show that the RTN hydrogel, prepared using the natural product of rutin as a crosslinker with in vitro biodegradability and antioxidant properties, offers great promise as a high-impact carrier in the drug distribution system.