Acrylated Chitosan for mucoadhesive drug delivery systems

Yulia Shitrit, Chemical engeeniring, Technion-Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel

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

A previous study in our laboratory proposed a novel mucoadhesive system, which utilizes a Michael type addition reaction between acrylate end group carried by a polymer and the sulfide end group of the mucin type glycoprotein.

In current research a new mucoadhesive polymer based on modified Chitosan carrying acrylate end group was designed and verified by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). For evaluation of mucoadhesive properties of the acrylated Chitosan we used several methods including tensile studies on fresh small intestine surface, NMR and rheology studies. The new polymer demonstrates enhanced adhesion compare to the control and ability to create covalent bonds with mucin glycoproteins under mild physiological conditions. In-vitro drug release studies showed that the acrylation did affect the release rate.Enter the body of your abstract here