INTERPENETRATING POLYMERIC NETWORK OF CHITOSAN-GLUTAMIC ACID BEADS FOR APPLICATION IN DRUG DELIVERY

Abstract

Chitosan obtained by alkaline deacetylation of chitin is non-toxic, biocompatible and biodegradable natural polymer. Chitosan-based hydrogel polymeric beads have been extensively studied as micro- or nano-particulate carriers in the pharmaceutical and medical fields, where they have shown promise for drug delivery as a result of their controlled and sustained release properties, as well as biocompatibility with tissues and cells. To introduce desired properties and enlarge the scope of the potential applications of chitosan, graft copolymerization with natural or synthetic polymers on it has been carried out, and also, various chitosan derivates have been utilized to form beads. The desired kinetic, duration and rate of drug release up to therapeutical level from polymeric beads are limited by specific condition such as bead material and their composition, bead preparation method, amount of drug loading, drug solubility and drug polymer interaction. The present review summarizes most of the available reports about compositional and structural effects of chitosan-based hydrogel polymeric beads on swelling, drug loading, and release properties. From the studies reviewed it is concluded that chitosan-based hydrogel polymeric beads are promising drug delivery systems. The paper addresses development of novel pH sensitive interpenetrating polymeric network (IPN) beads composed of chitosan-glutamic acid cross linked with glutaraldehyde and their use for controlled drug release. A comparative study has been carried out on these IPN beads with the beads that of chitosan, and chitosan-glutamic acid cross linked with glutaraldehyde. The beads were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to understand the surface morphology and internal structure and DSC to find out the thermal stability of beads. The swelling behaviour of the beads at different time intervals was monitored in solutions of pH 2.0 and pH 7.4 compositions. The results indicate that the newly constructed cross linked IPN beads of chitosan-glutamic acid might be useful as a vehicle for controlled release of drug.