溫度敏感型胺基酸水膠具有著良好的生物相容性及低成膠濃度，可藉由人體溫度與環境溫度的改變來使水膠高分子水溶液在室溫下以溶液狀注入到人體，原位成膠做藥物釋放或組織工程應用。本研究在於探討溫度敏感型胺基酸水膠 – 甲基化聚乙二醇-聚乙基左旋榖氨酸(mPEG-PELG)包覆薑黃素與抗癌藥物之控制釋放研究。可藉由甲基化聚乙二醇-聚乙基左旋榖氨酸(mPEG-PELG) 的乙基疏水側鍊來穩定並包覆疏水型藥物薑黃素。薑黃素是一種疏水型的抗癌藥物，由於疏水性質太強，對水的溶解度極低，目前利用載體來輸送此多功能型藥物的研究已越來越廣泛。本篇的主要想法是利用疏水側鍊乙基與胺基酸材料具有的二級結構來包覆並穩定易降解的薑黃素藥物，再利用胺基酸材料特有的酵素降解特性達到長期的降解緩慢釋放。此高分子已成功合成並經氫譜核磁共振儀(1H-NMR), 傅立葉紅外線轉換儀 (FT-IR), 掃描式電子顯微鏡 (SEM)等鑑定。藥物釋放部分利用高效能液相層析儀(HPLC)針對薑黃素的釋放濃度作分析。針對這些結果，證明此疏水支鏈的mPEG-PELG溫感型胺基酸水膠在疏水藥物控制釋放有相當的應用潛力。

Polypeptide thermosensitive hydrogel is an excellent candidate as smart device to deliver drugs and cells due to its remarkable biocompatibility, low gelation concentration, and respond to temperature stimuli. It can be easily injected as a polymer solution into the patient’s body where it undergoes gelation due to an elevation in temperature. Poly (ethylene glycol) monomethyl ether-poly (ethyl-l-glutamate) (mPEG-PELG) contains hydrophobic side chains –C2H5. This polymer is useful in encapsulating and stabilizing hydrophobic drugs. In this study, we plan to focus on the hydrophobic drug curcumin, which requires a proper carrier for delivery into the body due its insolubility in water. Our principal is to use mPEG-PELG to stabilize curcumin, inject the curcumin-loaded hydrogel into the tumor site, and allow the enzymatically-sensitive hydrogel to be degraded by body fluids and release the drug. The polymers of interest have been successfully synthesized and characterized by 1H-NMR, FT-IR, DLS, TEM, SEM and CMC. Curcumin loading content and drug release were quantitatively characterized using HPLC. The results show the promising potential of this polymeric hydrogel in drug delivery.

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