In this paper

hydrogels of konjac glucomannan（KGM） grafted acrylic acid（AA） were prepared for transdermal delivery matrix of hydrophilic drug 5-fluorouracil（5-FU）.The equilibrium swelling ratios（RE） of gels with different compositions were determined under environmental pH 7.4 through rat skin.It is found that the RE depends on the molar content of AA in the hydrogels.The gels loaded 5-FU was obtained by immersion dry gel into the drug solution.The penetration in vitro through rat skin of 5-FU was investigated using a modified Franz diffusion cell.The results show that

at pH 7.4 and with 3% drug loading

the maximal cumulative permeation amount 4 721.2 μg/cm

2

and skin flux of（542.2±53.0） μg·cm

-2

·h

-1

can be achieved by the hydrogel with 1∶60 molar ratio of KGM to AA.