Physical and Biological Investigation of Injectable Thai Silk Fibroin/Hyaluronic Acid Hydrogel Sustained-Releasing Dexamethasone

Failure of glaucoma surgery occurred due to fibrosis formation. To prevent fibrosis formation, an anti-inflammation agent, such as dexamethasone (DEX), was utilized to inhibit inflammation during the wound healing process, leading to fibrosis reduction. In the present study, DEX is loaded into an ultrasonication-induced silk fibroin/hyaluronic acid (SF/HA) hydrogel as a sustained-release drug delivery system. The SF/HA hydrogel can be fabricated using ultrasonic induction resulting to homogeneous gel within 1 day after incubation at 37°C. For injectability test, the results confirmed that the hydrogel could be easily injected through the 30-gauge needle, particularly for hydrogel containing less concentration and higher HA content. Furthermore, The SF/HA hydrogel showed non-swelling ability, released DEX up to 60% along 30 days of incubation in balanced salt solution, and non-cytotoxic to fibroblasts. However, these properties of the SF/HA hydrogels are independent of their concentrations and SF/HA ratios. As aforementioned, the ultrasonication-induced SF/HA hydrogel could be utilized as an injected carrier of DEX for incorporation with postoperative glaucoma surgery to reduce inflammation and fibrosis formation.