METHODS: This study describes the formulation design, optimisation, characterisation and evaluation of insulin concentration via oral delivery in rats. A reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method was developed and validated to quantify insulin concentration in rat plasma. The proposed method produced a linear response over the concentration range of 0.39 to 50 µg/ml.
RESULTS: In vitro release study showed that dissolution of insulin in simulated gastric juice of pH 1.2 was prevented by alginate core and chitosan coating but rapidly released in simulated intestinal fluid (pH 6.8). Additionally, Formulation 3 (F3) has a particle size of 340.40 ± 2.39 nm with narrow uniformity exhibiting encapsulation efficiency (EE) of 72.78 ± 1.25 % produced highest absorption profile of insulin with a bioavailability of 40.23 ±1.29% and reduced blood glucose after its oral administration in rats.
CONCLUSION: In conclusion, insulin oral delivery system containing alginate and chitosan as a coating material has the ability to protect the insulin from enzymatic degradation thus enhance its absorption in the intestine. However, more work should be done for instance to involve human study to materialise this delivery system for human use.
RESULTS: Fourier transform infrared spectral analyses showed that the enzymatic hydrolysis altered functional groups of OPL where a secondary amine was present in the PH. Changes were also observed in the thermal stability where the enthalpy heat obtained for PH (933.93-1142.57 J g-1 ) was much lower than OPL (7854.11 J g-1 ). The results showed that the PH extracted by 8% Alcalase exhibited absolute zeta potential, as well as a high emulsifying activity index (70.64 m2 g-1 of protein) and emulsion stability index (60.58 min). Furthermore, this PH showed higher solubility (96.32%) and emulsifying properties compared to other PHs. It is also comparable with commercial plant proteins, indicating that 8% Alcalase is an optimum concentration for hydrolysis.
CONCLUSION: In summary, the physicochemical and functional properties of PH extracted from OPL showed good functional properties, suggesting that it can be used as an alternative plant protein in food industries. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.
METHODS: The Multi-Layered Perceptron (MLP) neural network was used to predict the dissolution profiles of theophylline pellets containing different ratios of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) and glyceryl monostearate (GMS). The concepts of leave-one-out as well as a time-point by time-point estimation basis were used to predict the rate of drug release for each matrix ratio. All the data were used for training, except for one set which was selected to compare with the predicted output. The closeness between the predicted and the reference dissolution profiles was investigated using similarity factor (f2).
RESULTS: The f2 values were all above 60, indicating that the predicted dissolution profiles were closely similar to the dissolution profiles obtained from physical experiments.
CONCLUSION: The MLP network could be used as a model for predicting the dissolution profiles of matrix-controlled release theophylline pellet preparation in product development.
METHODS: Polymeric carriers with different hydrophobic to hydrophilic ratios were used to prepare several electrospun solid dispersion formulations. Physicochemical properties and surface morphology of the samples were assessed using Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR), polarized light microscopy, Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), X-ray Powder Diffraction (XRPD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Dissolution study was conducted in a non-sink condition to assess the drug release.
RESULTS: Incorporation of a higher amount of hydrophilic component showed an improvement in formulating a fully amorphous system based on XRPD, yet the dissolution rate increment showed no significant difference from the lower. Hence, the degree of crystallinity is proven not to be the crucial factor contributing to dissolution rate improvement. The presence of a concomitant hydrophobic component, however, showed ability in resisting precipitation and sustaining supersaturation.
CONCLUSION: Hydrophobicity in a binary carrier system plays an important role in achieving and maintaining the supersaturated state particularly for an amorphous solid dispersion. Graphical Abstract.