Hydrogel drug delivery systems have been widely studied for controlled release of therapeutics. Additionally, these systems have been modified with tethered structures to enhance the control of drug delivery through site-specific targeting and by improving stealth properties. A variety of tethers including polymers, proteins, and antibodies has been developed for these purposes. However, polysaccharides which are known to play key roles in cell signaling, adhesion, and immune recognition have been largely overlooked. This suggests that tethering of polysaccharides to polymeric drug delivery systems may be important in the design of novel targeting methodologies. This work focuses on modification of polyacrylic acid microparticles with polysaccharide tethers. Analysis was performed to verify the presence of these polysaccharide tethers on hydrogel microparticles. Furthermore, the effect of these tethered structures on release kinetics was determined through loading and release studies.

Work supported by the National Institutes of Health and a NSF/IGERT Fellowship