DESIGN AND EVLUATION OF COLLOIDAL CARRIER SYSTEM FOR ORAL DELIVERY OF ENZYME

The purpose of this work is to evaluate the possibility of enzyme therapy through microencapsulation of serratiopeptidase (SP) in biodegradable nanoparticles of chitosan (CS). This drug has short biological half-life and thus frequent administration makes it a suitable candidate for controlled release. In this study, serratiopeptidase loaded chitosan nanoparticles were prepared by ionotropic gelation of CS with tripolyphosphate (TPP) anions. Reversible physical cross-linking by electrostatic interaction, instead of chemical cross-linking, has been applied to avoid the possible toxicity of reagents and other undesirable effects. The enzyme loaded particles optimized formulation was coated with sodium alginate solution to protect its release in stomach. The enzyme loaded nanoparticle formulations were characterized for by morphology, particle size, encapsulation efficiency and in-vitro drug release. The preliminary studies show that TPP and CS were compatible with SP. The ratio of CS to TPP has an influence on the mean particle size and when CS: TPP is 4:1 nanoparticles with smallest diameter are formed. Entrapment efficiency depends on the degree of deacetylation of chitosan. The formulation F-3.3 showed 75.22 % In-vitro drug release at 24 hours in PBS at pH7.4 and only 16.03% at 2 hr in SGF at pH 1.2. It is inferred that dissociation of the associated macromolecule from chitosan predominantly governs the release process. This dissociation is in turn, affected by the intensity of the interactions and the ionic strength of the release medium.