Beta-carotene is the main dietary source of Vitamin A, an essential micronutrient required to maintain proper health. The in vivo bioavailability and absorption of beta-carotene, however, is limited due to the inhibition by the natural plant matrices in which it is found. This study focused on microencapsulation methods to improve release and bioavailability in vitro. Alginate and chitosan form...

The aim of this research was to prepare and characterize alginate-chitosan mucoadhesive microparticles containing puerarin. The microparticles were prepared by an emulsification-internal gelatin method using a combination of chitosan and Ca2+ as cationic components and alginate as anions. Surface morphology, particle size, drug loading, encapsulation efficiency and swelling ratio, in vitro drug...

If acid-sensitive drugs or cells are administered orally, there is often a reduction in efficacy associated with gastric passage. Formulation into a polymer matrix is a potential method to improve their stability. The visualization of pH within these materials may help better understand the action of these polymer systems and allow comparison of different formulations. We herein describe the de...

If acid sensitive drugs or cells are administered orally, there is often a reduction in efficacy associated with gastric passage. Formulation into a polymer matrix is a potential method to improve their stability. The visualization of pH within these materials may help better understand the action of these polymer systems and allow comparison of different formulations. We herein describe the de...

Bread is a global staple food. Despite attempts to develop functional breads containing viable microorganisms, this has not been done yet because of the high temperature during baking. The aim of this study is to obtain synbiotic bread, hence hamburger bun and white pan bread were selected. Lactobacillus acidophilus LA-5 and L. casei 431 were encapsulated with calcium alginate and Hi-maize resi...

Polyelectrolyte multilayers (PEMs) composed of two natural polysaccharides-chitosan (Chi) and alginate (Alg) were deposited by Layer by layer (LbL) assembly on top of biocompatible poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) nanoparticles (NPs). Folic acid (FA) or FA grafted poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG-FA) were covalently bounded to the PEMs via carbodiimide chemistry. The assembly of biocompatible PEMs w...

Chitosan (CS) and sodium alginate (SA) are two widely popular biopolymers which are used for biomedical and pharmaceutical applications from many years. The objective of present study was to study the effect of biofield treatment on physical, chemical and thermal properties of CS and SA. The study was performed in two groups (control and treated). The control group remained as untreated, and bi...

Floating calcium alginate beads based on gas-generation technique often suffer from poor drug encapsulation and rapid drug release in the acidic environment of the stomach. To overcome the above mentioned demerits, in the present study we have evaluated the influence of formulation factors such as incorporation of mixtures of gasgenerating agents (NaHCO3 and CaCO3), incorporation of gelatin typ...

This work describes the development of spray dried polymer coated liposomes composed of soy phosphatidylcholine (SPC) and phospholipid dimyristoyl phosphatidylglycerol (DMPG) coated with alginate, chitosan or trimethyl chitosan (TMC), that are able to penetrate through the nasal mucosa and offer enhanced penetration over uncoated liposomes when delivered as a dry powder. All the liposome formul...

Metronidazole microcapsules with a coat consisting of alginate and the natural cationic polymer, chitosan were formulated by using tripolyphosphate cross-linking method and were investigated with a view to develop mucoadhesive microcapsules. The microcapsules were evaluated for their surface morphology, microencapsulation efficiency, in-vitro wash-off test, swelling behavior and in-vitro drug r...