In this work, a novel triple-responsive poly(3-acrylamidephenylboronic acid-co-(2-dimethylamino) ethyl methacrylate)/(beta-cyclodextrin-epichlorohydrin) (P(AAPBA-co-DMAEMA)/(beta-CD-EPI)) semi-interpenetrating (semi-IPN) hydrogel was prepared. The structures of the resultant hydrogels were studied by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results from swelling studies reveal that the equilibrium swelling ratios (ESRs) of P(AAPBA-co-DMAEMA)/(beta-CD-EPI) semi-IPN hydrogels are significantly affected by pH, temperature, ionic strength and glucose concentration of the swelling media. Release studies that used aminophylline and ibuprofen as hydrophilic and hydrophobic model drug, respectively, show that the drug loading ratio of hydrophobic drugs is apparently higher than that of hydrophilic drugs. It is also depicted that the release behaviors of model drug from the P(AAPBA-co-DMAEMA)/(beta-CD-EPI) semi-IPN hydrogels depend on pH, glucose concentration and solvent type of release medium. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.