A new deep eutectic solvent-agarose gel with hydroxylated fullerene as electrical "switch" system for drug release.

A novel portable conductive system of hydroxylated fullerene (TEGs-C 60) embedded on the deep eutectic solvent (DES, choline chloride/malic acid)-agarose gel was developed for on-demand curation with skin contact. It has been found with better elasticity, conductivity and thermal stability than agarose hydrogel. Especially, the electro-responsive drug releasing amount on the skin of mice and live rabbits through small batteries was proved to be 4–5 times of those without electrical stimulation, which reached the level of clinic daily dosage. Meanwhile, it also showed good biocompatibility and much higher antibacterial rate against S. aureus (78.67 ± 0.80 %) together with E. coli (92.08 ± 1.50 %) than those of commercial chitosan gel. The new electrical "switch" gel system provided an effective and useful development strategy for advanced drug delivery. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]