Superhydrophobic Surface for Enhancing the Bioavailability of Salbutamol Sulfate from Cross-Linked Microspheres: Formulation, Characterization, and in vivo Evaluation

Abstract

Introduction

The aim of the work was to formulate salbutamol sulfate (SB) microspheres by using superhydrophobic surface (SHS) under different processing factors for improving its encapsulation efficiency, controling its release rate, and hence enhancing its bioavailability.

Methods

Cross-linked microspheres of chitosan (CN) and carrageenan (KN) were made on a SHS under a glutaraldehyde-saturated atmosphere. The formulations were designed and optimized based on 4² factorial design. Percentage encapsulation efficiency (%EE), particle size, swelling ratio, and in vitro release rate were characterized, and the in vivo performance of optimized formula was investigated in beagle dogs.

Results

The results showed that the prepared microspheres have a high %EE (97.11±0.78%) for F13. The swelling ratio was 4.2 at the end of the 8 hours for the optimized formula, and the in vitro release rate was controlled for 12 hours. In vivo study verified that there was a 1.61-fold enhancement in SB bioavailability from optimized formula (F13) compared to market tablet.

Conclusion

The study suggested that microspheres prepared from CN/KN crosslinking on an SHS using glutaraldehyde atmosphere is a promising technique that can encapsulate and sustain the release of water-soluble drugs such as SB in addition to improving its in vivo pharmacokinetic profile.

Keywords:

• cross-linked complex
• water-soluble drugs
• salbutamol sulfate
• sustain release
• bioavailability
• microspheres
• superhydrophobic

Disclosure

The authors declare no conflicts of interest for this work.

Additional information

Funding

This research received no external funding.