Preparation and Evaluation of Mesalazine loaded Sodium Alginate/Nano Carboxy Methylcelloluse Beads for pH-Sensitive Drug Delivery

Controlled drug delivery systems are designed to deliver the drug at predetermined rate at a specific site thereby reducing the dose, dosing frequency, and side effects of the drug. One of such approach is the formulation of beads as drug carriers.1 Beads have a wellordered size and shape, the huge surface area allowing for sufficient therapeutic coatings, and the high capability for encapsulation of various drugs and biomaterials.2 Polymeric beads derived from natural sources are unique materials for controlled release due to inherent properties such as their non-toxic nature and biodegradation ability.3 Sodium alginate (SA) and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) are biocompatible, biodegradable polymers and have finding widespread applications in pharmaceutical area.4 The most attractive property of alginate is its gel formation simply induced by cross-linking with various divalent cations. Because of SA’s ability to form a stable and bioadhesive gel with calcium ions, some sensitive drugs, protein, living cells, etc. could be encapsulated and released through alginate beads.5The aim of this work is to produce alginate beads containing mesalazine as a drug model in order to control the drug release in the colon. The mesalazine loaded alginate-CMC bead were prepared using the ionotropic gelation method. The structure and surface morphology of the hydrogel beads were characterized by FTIR and SEM, respectively. The prepared beads were evaluated for swelling properties, entrapment efficiency, drug loading, and in-vitro drug release in simulated gastric (pH 1.2), intestinal (pH 7.4) fluids.

Keywords:

Sodium alginate , Bead , Nano carboxymethyl cellulose , pH-sensitive drug delivery