ACRYLATED POLYSACHARIDES FOR MUCOADHESIVE DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEMS

The interest in mucoadhesive delivery of drugs constantly increases due to potent
benefits over other delivery methods such as lower administration frequency, higher epithelial permeability for many drugs and avoidance of some enzymatic degradation as a result of contact to the absorbing mucosa.

Thiolated polymers have been wildly explored in the last decade. Although thiomers showed good adhesion ability, there are a few limitations.

A study in our laboratory proposed a novel mucoadhesive system which utilizes a Michael type
addition reaction between acrylate end group and the sulfide end group of the mucin type glycoprotein.
In this research a new mucoadhesive polymer based on modified Chitosan carrying acrylate end group was designed. The verification of the product and examination of the structure performed by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and Fourier spectroscopy (FTIR). For evaluation of mucoadhesive properties of the acrelated Chitosan we used tensile studies on fresh small intestine surface, by measuring the tensile force required to overcome the adhesive interaction. In addition the interaction at the functional group level can be exhibit with rheology studies. Water uptake and swelling ratio will be determined by following the weight of samples submerging in water or in physiological solution. In-vitro drug release studies will be performed using UV spectrophotometer.

The new system demonstrates an increase in adhesion strength and can create non-specific covalent bonds with mucin glycoproteins under mild physiological conditions.