Preparation of thermosensitive polymeric organogels and their drug release behaviors

Stimuli-sensitive drug delivery systems—in particular, stimuli-sensitive polymeric hydrogels swollen with water—have attracted considerable attention in medical and pharmaceutical fields. This study concerns with the synthesis of thermosensitive polymeric organogels for controlled drug release; a copolymerization of stearyl acrylate (SA) with a cross-linker and the loading of indomethacin as a model lipophilic drug were accomplished in oleyl alcohol. The pulsatile (on-off) drug release was successfully conducted: release was halted at 36 °C and release occurred at over ca. 40 °C. This drug release pattern is suitable for thermochemotherapy combined with hyperthermia. The differential scanning calorimetric measurement suggests the following mechanism: the ordered crystalline structure, i.e., the alignment of hydrophobic alkyl side chains, works to prevent indomethacin diffusion from the organogel below the crystallization temperature, while the disordered amorphous structure above the melting temperature allows indomethacin to diffuse.