The tick-borne disease such as Lyme disease (through black-legged ticks) poses significant risks to public health. Common tick control methods use broad-spectrum insecticides such as permethrin, which are environmentally unfriendly and toxic to other beneficial organisms. Applying gene-modification technology to control disease transmission has shown promise, but no successful method for non-invasive delivery of dsRNA into ticks in their native environment has been reported to date. Physically crosslinked glycopolymer-based hydrogels are attractive delivery vehicles due to their biocompatibility and reversible crosslinking nature. However, the effect of glycomonomer structure and inclusion of hydrophobic acrylamide comonomers on the rheological, bio-adhesive, and diffusive properties of these physical networks is unexplored. For this research, glycopolymers at varying copolymer compositions were synthesized via free radical polymerization in water to form physically crosslinked hydrogels. The rheological properties were then characterized to investigate changes in zero-shear viscosity and low-frequency modulus. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were also completed to understand the structural water content and thermal properties of the hydrogel networks.

Rheological properties of glycopolymer-based physical gels for potential transcuticular drug delivery

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