Preparation of microparticles of gellan gum and pectin by dual cross-linking procedure: evaluation of size, shape and mucoadhesive properties

Abstract

The targeting of drugs to a specific organ or tissue is a great challenge in research and development of new controlled drug delivery systems. The use of bioadhesive polymers in the design of multiparticulate systems as well as their chemical modification through crosslinking reaction, represent valuable strategies to improve the performance of colonic drug delivery systems. In this work, gellan gum and pectin are used to obtain microparticles containing resveratrol by ionotropic gelation technique. The dual crosslinking will be performed using glutaraldehyde or sodium sulfate. Physicochemical characterization will include analyzes of size, shape, surface and internal morphology, and liquid uptake ability. Mucoadhesive properties will be evaluated by in vitro and ex vivo assays. The influence of variable as polymer proportion and concentration in the experimental data will be assessed with a statistical treatment. (AU)