Fabrication and characterization of alginate microspheres for drug delivery application
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Date
2019-07
Authors
Azfar Syaqir Bin Man
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Abstract
Drug Delivery Systems (DDS) are engineering technologies for delivery
and/or controlling release of therapeutic agents in targeted areas. Microspheres are
solid spherical particles ranging in size from 1-1000 μm. Alginate is a naturally
occurring polymer found in brown algae. Alginate microspheres are sought after due
to its inexpensiveness, nontoxicity, biocompatibility and biodegradability properties.
In this study, alginate microspheres will be fabricated via emulsification / gelation
technique. Effect of type of oils used soy bean oil, canola oil, palm oil, olive oil
(extra virgin) and olive oil (half virgin) and stirring speed (800 rpm, 1000 rpm and
1200 rpm) on the formation of alginate microspheres will be investigated. The
obtained alginate microspheres were characterized using scanning electron
microscope (SEM) for morphological observation, Fourier Transform Infrared
(FTIR), particle size analysis and viscosity testing. SEM observation shows that
alginate microspheres were able to formed in all types of oils used. However, the
microspheres formed are agglomerated, regardless of stirring speed used. For FTIR,
the functional group that had been detected were Hydroxyl (O-H), Carboxylate (C
H), Carbonyl (COOˉ) and Ethers (C-O-C). For the particle size analysis, the alginate
microspheres of soy bean oil had the smallest particle distribution, 96.20 μm
compared to the others. For viscosity testing, soy bean oil had the lowest viscosity,
51.0 cP compared to others. Therefore, it is concluded that lower viscosity oils are
better to form alginate microspheres than higher viscosity oils.