N. Mohammadpour Dounighi
S.A. Mortazavi
A. Rezaei Mokarram
H. Zolfagharian
M.J. Alonso

During last two decades, polysaccharides such as alginate (Alg) alone and in combination with other biopolymers are widely used in vaccine and drug delivery systems. The aim of the present work was to investigate the potential utility of microparticles made of alginate (Alg) as new vehicles for improving nasal vaccine delivery. For this purpose, diphtheria toxoid (DT) was chosen as a model antigen. DT w as entrapped within microparticles made of Alg of different molecular weight cross-linked using ۱M CaCl۲ or ۳.۷۵ %w/w CaCl۲ in n-octanol. DT-loaded microparticles were characterized for their size, loading efficiency and in vitro release of toxoid. The resulting microparticles had a size, which varied depending on formulation conditions and Alg Mw. The results of the in vitro release studies displayed a biphasic release of toxoid, the intensity of the first phase being less pronounced for microparticles cross linked with aqueous CaCl۲ than octanolic CaCl۲.

Microspheres, Alginate molecular weight, CaCl۲ cross linking agent, Diphtheria Toxoid