Design
and Evaluation of Chitosan-Based Novel pH-Sensitive Drug
Carrier for Sustained Release of Cefixime
Murugesh Shivashankar1 and Badal K Mandal*2
1Pharmaceutical
Chemistry Division, 2Environmental and
Analytical Chemistry Division, School of Advanced
Sciences, VIT University, Vellore 632014, Tamilnadu,
India
*For correspondence: E-mail:
badalmandal@vit.ac.in Tel:
+91 (0416) 2202339;
Received: 12 December
2012
Revised accepted:
13 February 2013
Tropical
Journal of Pharmaceutical Research, April 2013;
12(2): 155-161
http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/tjpr.v12i2.4
Abstract
Purpose:
To formulate and
evaluate pH-sensitive controlled release
cefixime microspheres based on crosslinked
chitosan and acryl amide-grafted-poly
ethylene glycol
Methods:
pH sensitive interpenetrating
network (IPN) cefixime microspheres based on chitosan,
its grafted copolymer, and hydrolyzed grafted copolymer
were prepared by precipitation and crosslinking methods.
The formulations were characterized by Fourier transform
infrared spectroscopy (FTIR),X-ray
diffraction(XRD),Differential scanning calorimetry
(DSC), Scanning electron microscopy(SEM),Raman
spectroscopy for particle size analysis. Swelling ratio,
Effect of drug loading on encapsulation efficiency was
investigated. FTIR, SEM, DSC, X-ray diffraction XRD,
swelling studies were investigated for controlled drug
release of drug at pH 2 and pH 7.4.
Results:
The microspheres were spherical
in shape with a narrow particle size distribution (56 –
124 µm) and encapsulation efficiency of up to 93 %. The
% swelling ratio for blend microspheres of C-PEG are higher than that of
plain chitosan in both pH. In both the pH
media release was much faster in plain Chitosan
microspheres. For instance, only 83% drug was released
at 11.5 h for C-grafted
copolymer 50 in pH 7.4 media compared to
41% drug released in pH 2 media for the same time
whereas 80% drug was released at 11.5 h for
C-grafted copolymer 50
(hydrolyzed) in pH 7.4 media compared to 38%
drug released in pH 2. Drug release followed Higuchi
release kinetics. FTIR, DSC, XRD data indicate that
there was no interaction between the drug and the
polymers used.
Conclusion:
It is evident from this study
that chitosan microspheres could be further developed to
serve as an effective biodegradable carrier for
controlled release of cefixime.
Keywords: Chitosan,
Polyethylene glycol, Cross-linking, Controlled release,
Cefixime.
