Comparison of different cationic polymers efficacy in fabrication of alginate multilayer microcapsules

Publication date: Available online 30 December 2018Source: Asian Journal of Pharmaceutical SciencesAuthor(s): Fariba Hajifathaliha, Arash Mahboubi, Leila Nematollahi, Elham Mohit, Noushin BolourchianAbstractIn past decades, alginate-based multilayer microcapsules have been given important attention in various pharmaceutical investigations. Alginate-poly l lysine-alginate (APA) is studied the most. Due to the similarity between the structure of poly ethylene imine (PEI) and poly l lysine (PLL) and also lower price of PEI than PLL, this study was conducted to compare the efficacy of linear (LPEI) and branch (BPEI) forms of PEI with PLL as covering layers in fabrication of microcapsules. The microcapsules were fabricated using electrostatic bead generator and their shape/size, surface roughness, mechanical strength, and interlayer interactions were also investigated using optical microscopy, AFM, explosion test and FTIR, respectively. Furthermore, cytotoxicity was evaluated by comparing the two anionic final covering layers alginate (Alg) and sodium cellulose sulphate (NCS) using MTT test. BPEI was excluded from the rest of the study due to its less capacity to strengthen the microcapsules and also the aggregation of the resultant alginate-BPEI-alginate (ABA) microcapsules, while LPEI showed properties similar to PLL. MTT test also showed that NCS has no superiority over Alg as final covering layer. Therefore, it is concluded that, LPEI could be considered as a more cost effecti...
Source: Asian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: research