Pectin-based self-healing hydrogel through acylhydrazone connection for controlled drug release and enhanced tumor therapy

Biocompatible self-healing hydrogels have important application in drug loading and release for anti-tumor therapy. In this study, biocompatible self-healing hydrogel was designed from pectin acylhydrazide (pec-AH) with polyethylene glycol dialdehyde (PEG DA) cross-linking and the application as DOX delivery carrier for effective tumor treatment was investigated. Results showed that the pec-AH could be easily obtained through hydrazinolysis and the pectin based self-healing hydrogels through PEG DA cross-linking exhibited good mechanical property and flexibility. Importantly, the hydrogels showed excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability both in vitro and in vivo with controlled drug release behavior based on three-dimensional microporous structure. The xenograft CT-26 tumors model experiment in mice revealed the DOX-loaded hydrogel can significantly inhibit tumor growth compared to direct injection of DOX and eliminated the side effect. With above advanced properties, the pectin-based hydrogel holds great potential bio-applications in fields of localized drug delivery for antitumor therapy.