Bacterial enzymes hydrogel degradation

Enzyme-Degradable Hydrogel. Because lysozyme is a well characterized enzyme, our first choice was a lysozyme-degradable hydrogel (11, 12). The natural substrate for lysozyme is chitin (13). but because chitin is a rigid, hydrophobic material, it is clearly not suitable for this work. The other natural substrates for lysozyme are certain bacterial cell-wall peptidoglycans (13. 

Attempts have been made to achieve colon-speeifie delivery of drugs. These include prodrugs and enteric coated polymers that are sensitive to degradation by bacterial enzymes, and matrices and hydrogels suseeptible to degradation by baeterial enzymes. 

Matrix and Hydrogels Susceptible to Degradation by Bacterial Enzymes... 

Matrix and hydrogels susceptible to degradation by bacterial enzymes... 

Hydrogels that are based on natural products are more acceptable from the standpoint of toxicity-related issues and are therefore preferable to azo-based polymers. However, chemical derivatization, if performed without proper understanding, can lead to modifications of the hydrogels to products that will not degrade readily in the colon because it is possible that the new structures will not be recognized by the colonic bacterial enzymes for degradation. Also, bulk degradation is preferred to surface erosion because it... 

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