Affiliations 

  • 1 School of Materials and Mineral Resources Engineering, Engineering Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
  • 2 Faculty of Materials Technology, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, VNU-HCM, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam
  • 3 School of Materials and Mineral Resources Engineering, Engineering Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia. Electronic address: nurazreena@usm.my
Int J Biol Macromol, 2020 Jun 15;153:1035-1046.
PMID: 31794824 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2019.10.233

Abstract

Alginate microspheres (AMs) have received much attention as a novel drug delivery system owing to various advantages of alginate such as inexpensiveness, nontoxicity, biocompatibility and biodegradability. The well-designed fabrication method is essential to achieve desired AMs suitable for specific drug delivery system. Reports on AMs preparation techniques have increased rapidly in the last decade. A number of synthesis parameters have been investigated for the improvement of physical, chemical and biological properties of AMs. Hence, this review summarizes the work to date on the fabrication techniques of AMs for drug delivery system, including spray-drying, extrusion and emulsification/gelation technique. Besides, the influence of various factors such as alginate concentration, oil phase, surfactant, cross-linker concentrations, cross-linking time, stirring speed, model drug and drug content on the morphologies, properties and encapsulation efficiency (EE) of AMs via extrusion and emulsification/gelation technique are summarized. Before embarking on the development of any drug delivery system, a thorough understanding of drug release mechanism and factors that impact the drug release profile are essential, which are also covered in this review.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.