Formulation and Characterization of Glutaraldehyde
Cross-Linked Chitosan Biodegradable Microspheres Loaded
with Famotidine
Somasundaram Ramachandran,
Satyamoorthy Nandhakumar and Magharla Dasaratha
Dhanaraju*
Research Lab, GIET School of Pharmacy, NH-5, Chaitanya
Nagar, Rajahmundry-533 294, India
For correspondence:
E-mail:
mddhanaraju@yahoo.com
Tel: 0883 2484444, +91
9440677600
Received: 13 September
2010
Revised accepted: 22 April 2011
Tropical
Journal of Pharmaceutical Research, June 2011;
10(3):
309-316
doi:
10.4314/tjpr.v10i3.13
Abstract
Purpose:
To formulate biodegradable chitosan microspheres loaded
with famotidine to overcome the poor bioavailability and
frequent dose administration of the drug.
Methods:
Chitosan
microspheres were prepared by simple emulsification
technique based on glutaraldehyde crosslinking. Various
process and formulation variables such as speed of
emulsification, crosslinking time, drug/polymer ratio,
volume of cross linking agent and volume of surfactant
were optimized. The microspheres were characterized for
entrapment efficiency, drug loading, in vitro drug
release, surface morphology, as well as by particle size
analysis, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy
and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC).
Results:
The microspheres showed a smooth surface with a narrow
particle size distribution (105 – 219 µm) and an
entrapment efficiency of up to 73 %. They exhibited
controlled drug release characteristics with 85.6 % of
the drug released over a period of 24 h with an initial
burst release of 26.9 % in the first 2 h. Drug release
followed Higuchi release kinetics. FTIR and DSC data
indicate that there was no drug interaction between the
drug and polymer used.
Conclusion:
The chitosan
microspheres could be further developed as a potential
biodegradable carrier for oral controlled delivery of
famotidine.
Keywords:
Chitosan microspheres, Crosslinking, Controlled
delivery, Famotidine, Glutaraldehyde, Biodegradable.
