Abstract
Natural degradable capsules occupy a unique position in the pharmaceutical field owing to their attractive properties. Microcapsules are fabricated from a variety of polymers such as synthetic polyelectrolytes, polysaccharides and polynucleotides. Majority of the capsule shell materials are of synthetic origin, their biocompatibility and biodegradation are much lesser than natural polymers. Delivery of anti-tuberculosis drug remains a real challenge to the pharmaceutical researchers during the past few decades. In this research, natural degradable hollow capsules of size around 350 nm were fabricated using oppositely charged chitosan and carboxy methyl cellulose by dip coating technique on a sacrificial template followed by the core removal process. The resulting hollow capsules were loaded with a model anti tuberculosis drug rifampicin, and the in-vitro drug release studies were carried out in water and phosphate buffer saline (PBS) at different pH conditions of pH 1.2, pH 5.0, pH 7.4. The surface morphological characterizations of the hollow and drug loaded capsules were carried out using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The amount of drug loading and release was monitored using UV-visible spectrophotometer. The maximum amount of drug load was observed at pH 3.0 and the best release occurred at pH 1.2 in water and at pH 7.4 in PBS. There was a slow and sustained drug release up to 72 hours. The study demonstrates that 86 μg of the anti-tuberculosis drug could effectively load the capsule interiors at pH 3.0.
AIP Conference Proc