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Pseudoalteromonas espejiana (P. espejiana) is a marine bacterium known for its high resistance to alkalinity. The ability of P. espejiana to reduce Au (III) and biosynthesize gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) is found positive and was confirmed using UV-VIS, EDS, SEM, and TEM studies. Previously, many studies have been reported regarding the crystalline nature of AuNPs; therefore, this research aims at studying the crystal growth behaviour of AuNPs through DLS and TEM studies. Spherically shaped and monodispersed, AuNPs ranging between 5 to 160 nm were obtained with an average particle size of 62 nm. Also, to achieve maximum production of AuNPs, the reaction kinetic study was performed using an ICP-OES method and the effect of various parameters including pH, temperature, rpm, and concentration of substrate was analyzed. During the biosynthesis process, an appropriate phase of nucleation, crystal growth, and saturation was observed and this helped to determine the rate constants and order of reaction. The parameters such as pH profile (pH 9), temperature (30°C), agitation speed (150 rpm), and enzyme substrate ratio (2 : 3) were found to be the best fits for maximum production of low size AuNPs. This demonstrates that in initial few hours, a quick conversion of the ionic gold precursor takes place into metallic gold nuclei, trailed by crystal growth via coalescence of small nuclei. Subsequently, it can be concluded that coalescence processes drive the crystal growth process of AuNPs over a time interval and finally leads to saturation and no newer particle formation in the solution.

The present research deals with preparation and evaluation of aceclofenac dental pastes containing extracted dillenia fruit gum (DG) for periodontitis treatment. Dental pastes containing 1% w/w aceclofeanc were prepared with/without using extracted DG as a mucoadhesive polymer via conventional trituration method. The drug contents, viscosities and pHs of these dental pastes were observed within the permissible ranges. The tube extrudability and tube spreadability of these pastes containing extracted DG were found favorable. The in vitro aceclofenac release from all these dental pastes was found slower sustained over 6 h, which followed zero-order kinetic model (R2 = 0.9917–0.9988) with super case-II transport mechanism (n = 1.00–1.03). The in vitro aceclofenac release was found decreased with the viscosity increment of these dental pastes. These aceclofenac dental pastes containing extracted DG demonstrated excellent mucoadhesion onto excised porcine buccal mucosal membrane, which can be beneficial to get intimate contact with the action site during and after application to uphold the constant release of drugs over prolonged time. These dental pastes containing 1% w/w aceclofeanc can be applied for effective management of dental pain and inflammation with local delivery in the treatment of periodontitis.

In the biomaterial research, especially in the biopolymeric field, the designing of numerous interpenetrating polymeric networking (IPN) systems has already unlocked innovative opportunities. IPN systems are made of at least two polymers or more. In general, IPN systems are prepared when a minimum single polymeric networking is synthesized with the instantaneous occurrence of other polymer(s). The mechanical characteristics as well as the phase stabilities of the end products are enhanced in terms of desired quality via the formations of IPNs, which directs the extensive industrial applications of these IPNs. During the past few decades, several natural polysaccharidic polymers have already been tested and used in the preparations and evaluations of many IPN systems for sustained drug-releasing applications. Alginates belong to the group of naturally occurring anionic polysaccharides and have extensively been exploited to develop numerous alginate-based IPNs for drug delivery. In the current chapter, the recent literature on various alginate-based IPNs for sustained release of drug delivery has been reviewed. First, IPNs and their classifications of IPNs have been discussed. Afterward, the sources, general properties, and the need for modifications of alginate have been discussed. Finally, the recent researches that extensively synthesized and evaluated the use of various alginate-based IPNs for sustained releasing drug delivery have been summarized.

The biopolymeric hydrogels are being employed as the promising carriers for delivery of numerous kinds of drug candidates. Hydrogel systems are capable of absorbing higher volume of aqueous fluid while keeping intactness of the structural features. These also provide an easy implementation of the targeted and controlled releasing of drugs to the specific organs. Their use can minimize the unfavorable side effects of conventional drug delivery. Alginate is an abundant natural polysaccharide that possesses various freely existing hydroxyl and carboxyl functional groups along with its structural backbone and thus can be modified chemically. Alginate-based hydrogels have been designed by using different strategies which are either based on various kinds of physical and/or chemical cross-linking methodologies. Recent years, the drug delivery research and development have witnessed a tremendous growth for the prospective use of various alginate-based hydrogels. Due to increasing interest and great potential of these alginate-based hydrogels, this chapter is intended to present a comprehensive overview of the existing state-of-the-art technology in producing various alginate-based hydrogels and their evaluations for the use in drug delivery.

Plant-derived starches are vegetable polysaccharides occurring in cereals, seeds, corms, tubers, rhizomes, and root vegetables of various plants. These are recognized as biopolymers with diverse biomedical applications due to availability from nature, cost-effectiveness, biodegradability, and biocompatibility. During past few decades, a huge number of starches from different plant parts are being explored and expansively exploited as versatile pharmaceutical excipients like suspending agents, emulsifiers, diluents, disintegrating agents, binding agents, film-forming agents, matrix-forming agents, release retardants, and mucoadhesive excipients, in a variety of pharmaceutical dosage forms. Recent years, plant-derived starches have been used as polymeric blendings with sodium alginate for designing ionotropically gelled particulates (i.e., beads, microparticles) for the use in sustained drug releasing applications. The incorporation of these plant-derived starches within ionotropically gelled alginate matrix in the development of various alginate–plant-derived starches-based particulates minimize some potential limitations of ionotropically gelled alginate particles as drug carriers like lower drug entrapment, poor mechanical properties, and premature drug release behavior within short duration. The present chapter provides a discussion on various alginate–plant-derived starches-based microparticles and beads as sustained delivery carrier matrices prepared via the ionotropic-gelation technique. These ionotropically gelled beads and microparticles made of alginate–plant-derived starches were observed for the encapsulations of various drug candidates to facilitate sustained release of encapsulated drugs over a prolonged duration.

Alginates are the natural colloidal polysaccharide group, which are water soluble, biodegradable, nontoxic, and nonirritant in nature. These are mainly extracted from different species of brown marine algae. Bacterial alginates are also derived from some Pseudomonas sp. and Azotobacter sp. These are linear copolymeric blocks of α-(1→4)-linked l -guluronic acid (G) and β-(1→4)-linked d -mannuronic acid (M) residues. Owing to the monosaccharide sequencing and the enzymatic controlled reactions, alginates are well known as an important biopolymer group for the diversified biological as well as biomedical applications. Mainly alginates are commercially available in two forms: calcium alginate and sodium alginate. Since long, alginates have been investigated and utilized as pharmaceutical excipient materials. In addition, sodium alginate undergoes ionically gel forms in presence of various divalent metal cations (e.g., Ca2+, Zn2+, Ba2+) and trivalent metal cations (e.g., Fe3+, Al3+). This ionotropically gel formation property of sodium alginate has extensively been exploited to develop many useful hydrogel systems for different biomedical applications including drug delivery.

Alginates (salts of alginic acids) are classified as a group of natural biodegradable and biocompatible polymers. Alginates have been served as the widely used biopolymeric group excipients in the biomedical and pharmaceutical fields for many years. During past few years, various alginate-based composite particles have already been investigated for the sustained releasing drug delivery. Inorganic materials like montmorillonite (MMT) are being conjugated with alginate matrices to produce alginate–MMT composites for sustained release drug delivery. Conjugation of MMT with alginate matrices to prepare alginate–MMT composites and their applications toward the sustained drug delivery systems have been discussed in the current chapter.

Since the past few decades, the preparation of polymeric particles as multiple-unit sustained drug releasing carriers like beads, microparticles, and nanoparticles, via the ionotropic gelation technique, is being expanded as a fashionable biopolymer research, especially in the biomedical areas including drug delivery applications. Ionotropically gelled different biopolymeric particles are synthesized employing one or more than one ionic natured polymer(s). Most of the reported ionotropically gelled drug releasing systems was composed of anioinic polymers like sodium alginate, low methoxy pectin, gellan gum, and sodium carboxymethyl cellulose and cationic polymer like chitosan. Among these, alginates have extensively utilized for the preparation of biopolymeric beads, microparticles, nanoparticles, etc. via the ionotropic gelation employing various trivalent as well as divalent metal cations (e.g., Al3+, Fe3+, Ca2+, Cu2+, Zn2+, Cd2+, Ba2+, Pb2+). A variety of drug candidates have successfully been encapsulated within ionotropically gelled alginate-based particles and thereby, these drug encapsulated particles have been demonstrated diverse profiles of drug releasing in sustained manner over a longer period. The current chapter deals with a useful discussion on various ionotropically gelled alginate-based particles for sustained drug releasing.

Alginates are the biodegradable natural biopolymeric group of alginic acid salts extensively exploited in the designing of various pharmaceutical dosage forms to deliver drugs. Alginates have also been used by the dental practitioners for over years as dental biomaterial. Many successful attempts have been accomplished for the use of sodium alginate as well as modified alginates to improve their usefulness for the delivery of drugs in the dentistry. The present chapter intends to thoroughly discuss on the applications of alginate-based systems for the drug delivery in the dentistry to treat various dental disorders.

Since last decades, various polysaccharides are being used in many biomedical applications including dentistry. In the field of dentistry, a considerable volume of research has recently been evidenced for dental drug delivery and dental tissue restoration/regeneration with the use of many polysaccharides and their tailored forms. Many tailored polysaccharides-based dental drug delivery formulations have shown great potential in controlling drug release at the diseased site of tooth, whereas several tailored polysaccharides-based dental tissue restoration/regeneration scaffold materials have shown excellent restoration/regeneration of different dental tissues, such as periodontal bone and ligament, cementum, gingiva, etc.

Alginates (ALGs) are the product of alginic acid, which is a marine-derived naturally occurring polysaccharide having excellent biodegradability and biocompatibility. Since long, ALGs have widely been studied and utilized in many medical and biomedical areas, including drug delivery. For the formulation of various dosage forms, ALGs are commonly used as pharmaceutical excipients in many drug delivery dosage forms. Numerous composite systems based on ALGs have already been explored and exploited to facilitate the releasing of drugs for the therapy of different illnesses. Several inorganic biomaterials, such as carbon nanotube (CNT), montmorillonite (MMT), calcium silicate (CS), β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP), and hydroxyapatite (HAp) have already been reinforced into the ALG matrices to enable the long-term and more precise release of different drugs. Additionally, these composites have been formulated to improve desired mechanical behavior. The present chapter provides an extensive overview on the reported researches on the inorganic materials–ALG composite systems for drug releasing.

Hydrogels are three-dimensional cross-linked networks generally composed of hydrophilic polymers having the capability to hold high volume of aqueous fluids devoid of altering the matrix structure. Recent years, various kinds of hydrogels have already achieved the attention for the use in drug-releasing applications. Hydrogels made of natural gums such as chitosan, alginate, gellan gum, pectin, tamarind gum, sterculia gum, guar gum, and locust bean gum have been investigated as effectual drug-releasing carriers to control the releasing of numerous drugs. This chapter deals with an inclusive discussion of a number of gum-based hydrogels for the application in drug delivery. Besides this, sources and classifications of gum have been explained, in detail.

Polysaccharides derived from natural resources such as plants, seaweeds, fungus, microbes, animals, etc., possess some exclusive characteristics such as aqueous solubility, stability, excellent swelling ability, biodegradability, biocompatibility, etc. These polysaccharides are also being used in various biomedical uses, such as delivery of drugs, growth factors, gene materials, protein encapsulation, wound healing, tissue regeneration, bioimaging, etc. In this chapter, the different biomedical uses of polysaccharides have been reviewed.

Controlled releasing drug delivery systems (CRDDS) are proved to be superior over the conventional immediate releasing dosage systems in numerous aspects such as lower incidences of dose dumping risks and side-effect problems, reduced frequency of dosing, enhanced bioavailability, and better patient compliances. Polyelectrolyte complexes (PECs) are one of the most promising polymeric systems used to control the drug release kinetics. Since last few decades, alginate-based PECs are gaining much attention in the development of CRDDS and have brought a revolution in this domain due to their nontoxicity, biodegradability, abundantly availability, eco-friendliness, and inexpensiveness. Moreover, the alginates have the ability to mingle with other polymers without losing their own identity and are being used for controlling the drug release kinetics in a superior way. In this regard, contribution of alginate-cationic starch PECs, alginate-cationized poly- l -lysine PECs, alginate-cationized gelatin PECs, and alginate–chitosan PECs are noteworthy.

Alginates (different salts of alginic acid) are the well-known candidates of marine-derived natural polymers of polysaccharidic nature. Alginates are mainly extracted/isolated from a variety of kelp species. Chemically, the molecular structure of alginates encompasses the linear blocks of monomers, namely, (1→4)-linked- d -mannuronic acid (M) and α- l -guluronic acid (G). These linear monomer blocks are chemically characterized as a type of anionic copolymeric polysaccharide containing α- l -guluronic acid (G) and β- d -mannuronic acid (M), which are molecularly arranged in an asymmetrical array of different ratios of M-M, G-G, and M-G units. These units are molecularly connected with 1,4-glycoside linkages among these. On the account of their encouraging physicochemical characteristics, such as aqueous solubility, rheology, and sol–gel transformations, along with favorable biological characteristics, such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, bioadhesion, and immunogenicity, various types and grades of alginates are extensively exploited as useful pharmaceutical excipients in various dosage forms, such as gels, capsules, tablets, nanoparticles, microparticles, beads, films, and patches. During the past few decades, a variety of tailor-made alginates as improved biopolysaccharides has been synthesized and employed in various formulations of better and smarter delivery systems for several drug candidates. The current chapter describes the uses of alginates as potential excipients in pharmaceutical drug delivery dosage forms.

On March 11, 2020, the novel Corona virus disease (COVID-19), was described as a pandemic by World Health Organization (WHO). Globally, the COVID-19 has not only affected the public health socially but also has rigorously affected economically. Substantial declines in income, increase in unemployment, and distractions in the transportation, amenities, and industrial sectors are amongst the major concerns of the pandemic disease extenuation. Furthermore, the governments of most of the countries underestimated the menaces of COVID-19 spread and were typically responsive for the calamities in their respective countries. As outbreak of this pandemic is not likely to wane in the nearby future, preventive actions are prerequisite to prevent infection spread, save people lives and also to save the economic affluence. In this review, based on the present knowledge and available literature, we have demonstrated the various aspects of pre-and post-COVID-19 effects over the social and economic phases worldwide. Moreover, the evidence based data have been summarized regarding threats, social influences, scientific upgrades, moral dynamics, stress and adapting in the pre- and post- COVID-19 situations., Graphical abstract Image 1, Highlights • WHO declared COVID-19 outbreak as global health emergency. • COVID-19 pandemic has put enormous stress over the healthcare systems. • Effect of COVID-19 outbreak has been summarized. • Various concerns related to COVID-19 transmission has been discussed. • Globally impacted social and economic conditions.

Alginates are natural biopolymers, which have extensively been employed for the use in drug delivery applications owing to bioadhesivity, biodegradability, non-toxicity and ease of availability. It possesses numerous distinct properties for developing different biomedical composites with other biopolymers for a broad area of biomedical applications like drug delivery, tissue engineering, wound healing, etc. Alginate-based biocomposite systems are the exclusive carriers for the applications in controlled drug delivery owing to their potency to encapsulate and delivery of numerous therapeutic agents. Besides the simpler processing techniques, mechanical strength, good bioavailability, controlled release rates, stability, targeted delivery of various agents and large-scale manufacturing with cost-effectiveness are the advantages of these alginate-based biocomposites. The current chapter presents a comprehensive review on various alginate-based biocomposites (both alginate-other biopolymeric and alginate-bioinorganic biocomposites) and their applications in drug delivery. In addition, a brief introduction about composites and biocomposites along with sources, chemistry and various important properties of alginates are discussed.

In a daily life, wounds on skin and tissues due to several reasons are quite common and hence the pathophysiology of wound healing is extensively reported in the literature. The research focus on wound dressings has also been tremendously enhanced due to its significant commercial market value. Numerous biopolymers have already been investigated as wound dressing excipient materials. Among these, alginate (the naturally occurring polysaccharides) has found the usefulness as wound dressing biopolymer due to its biocompatibility, biodegradability, high swelling capacity, good water absorption ability, porous nature, and potential for functionalization. Considering the benefits of alginate-based systems, hydrogel wound dressings made of alginate have been developed and these are found to be suitable for wound healing management comparing to other biopolymeric systems. Alginate-based hydrogel wound dressings have also been proved their usefulness as matrices to entrap or impregnate the therapeutic agents like drugs, enzymes, proteins, and growth hormones, and to release these at a sustained rate to the wound site for better wound healing management and therapeutics. This book chapter presents a brief overview of wounds, wound healing process, wound dressings, alginate-based hydrogels, and drug releasing from alginate-based hydrogel wound dressings.

Alginate is a marine-derived natural biopolymer extracted from various brown algae and extensively employed as a useful biopolymer in gels, hydrogels, tablets, capsules, beads, microparticles, nanoparticles, etc. During past few decades, physical as well as chemical modifications of alginate have already been employed to solve some potential drawbacks of native alginate like low mechanical behavior and degradation in the high pH environment, which restrict the biomedical applications of native alginate. Chemical modification of native alginate by grafting copolymerization is the most preferred approach to synthesize the next-generation alginate-based biomaterials with improved properties, and the grafted alginates have also been used as excipient biomaterials in the formulations of different drug delivery systems. The current chapter describes various graft copolymerizations of alginate and their utilizations in drug delivery applications. In addition, the basics of chemical modifications of alginate and the prospects of various grafted alginates as drug delivery biomaterials are also discussed.

Recent research and developments in the field of biopolymers direct the successful formulations of various novel and smart drug delivery devices with enhanced therapeutic efficacy, better patient compliances, and cost-effectiveness. In the drug delivery field, a variety of biodegradable polymers are being extensively used as these biopolymers are degraded biologically to non-toxic components inside the body. An appropriate understanding of various potential attributes, such as extraction methodology and sustainable production, chemistry, surface characteristics, rheology, bulk properties, biocompatibility, biodegradability, etc., of biopolymers can help in the designing of various biopolymer-based drug delivery systems. In this chapter, a wide variety of biopolymers and their uses in drug delivery have been comprehensively reviewed.

The present work describes Quality by Design (QbD)-based development and validation of a LC-MS/MS method for estimation of paracetamol and diclofenac in human plasma using gabapentin as an internal...

The present research deals with the usefulness of isolated linseed polysaccharide (LP) as polymeric-blends with an anionic polymer, sodium alginate to prepare ionotropically cross-linking gelled mucoadhesive beads for controlled drug release. From the mature and ripe linseeds (Linum usitatisimum; family Linaceae), LP was isolated and its colour, odour, taste, solubility in water, pH and viscosity were studied. Isolated LP was also characterized by FTIR spectroscopy and 1H NMR analyses. LP‑calcium alginate beads loaded with diclofenac sodium were formulated via ionotropically crosslinking gelation method using calcium chloride as ionotropic crosslinker. These ionotropically crosslinked beads showed diclofenac sodium encapsulation efficiencies in these newly prepared beads were 60.78 ± 2.47 to 93.16 ± 4.08% and average bead-sizes of 1.17 ± 0.10 to 1.33 ± 0.12 mm. All LP‑calcium alginate beads loaded with diclofenac sodium demonstrated a sustained drug releasing profile over 8 h with a zero-order model of drug releasing (controlled drug releasing pattern). The LP‑calcium alginate beads loaded with diclofenac sodium displayed a pH responsive swelling and excellent biomucoadhesivity prospective with the intestinal mucosal tissue in both the acidic and alkaline pH (pH 1.2 and 7.4, respectively). These beads were also characterized by SEM and FTIR spectroscopy.

The objective of present research deals with the utility of extracted dillenia fruit gum (DG) as pharmaceutical excipient in the formulation of buccal patches containing atenolol (for the use in the treatment of hypertension). The atenolol-releasing buccal patches having a mucoadhesive polymeric layer of extracted DG-hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC K4M) and a drug-free backing layer of ethyl cellulose (1%) were prepared through the solvent-casting process. Various physicochemical parameters such as drug content, average weight, thickness, folding endurance and moisture content of all these buccal patches were found satisfactory. Ex vivo buccoadhesion was also found satisfactory. Ex vivo drug permeation across the excised porcine buccal mucosal membrane demonstrated the atenolol permeation over 12 h, which obeyed the first-order model (R2 = 0.9858–0.9967) with non-Fickian (anomalous) diffusion mechanism (n = 0.72–0.75). These buccal patches were also characterized by SEM and FTIR spectroscopy. These atenolol-releasing buccal patches can be used in the treatment of hypertension and angina pectoris bypassing the extensive hepatic first-pass metabolism.

The present article describes development of starch-blended Ca2+-Zn2+-alginate microparticles of aceclofenac for attaining gastric protection and controlled release delivery. Different formulations (F1 to F7) of microparticles were prepared by ionotropic gelation method and subjected to characterization studies. In vitro drug release studies were performed in 0.1 N HCl (pH 1.2) for initial 2 h and additional 5 h in phosphate buffer (pH 7.4). These microparticles were characterized by SEM, FTIR spectroscopy and XRD analyses. The formulation F7 (prepared using sodium alginate of 300 mg, soluble starch 250 mg, 5% CaCl2 and 1% ZnSO4) was selected as the optimized formulation, which exhibited entrapment efficiency of 85.73%, particle size of 1610 μm and viscosity of 802.16 cps. In vitro drug release from the formulation F7 revealed maximal 38% drug release within 7 h indicating sustained drug release profile from the prepared formulation. Also, in vitro swelling studies revealed maximal swelling within the period of 2 h at pH 7.4 for all these microparticles. The surface morphology studies performed using SEM showed smooth and spherical nature of the microparticles. Evaluation of drug release kinetic indicated fitting as per Korsmeyer-Peppas model and construed drug release via Fickian diffusion mechanism. Drug-excipient interaction studies using FTIR spectroscopy showed no change in characteristic peaks of the drug, while powder XRD revealed absence of sharp crystalline peaks of the drug. Overall, the present investigation corroborated successful development of microparticles of aceclofenac as an effective and cost-effective approach for oral delivery of aceclofenac. Keywords: Polymer composites, Ionotropic gelation, Microparticles, Drug release, Diffusion, Dissolution

In the current study, a multiple emulsion (W/O/W) of lamivudine was developed using a new biopolymer, gum odina (GOd) to increase bioavailability and patient compliances. GOd was employed to stabilize both the interfaces of liquid membrane in both the external and internal aqueous phases. The developed W/O/W multiple emulsion of lamivudine was characterized by analyzing droplet size, zeta potential, polydispersity index (PDI), sedimentation, viscosity, rheological properties, drug entrapment efficiency, in-vitro drug release and stability at various storage conditions. The results obtained were also compared with W/O/W multiple emulsion of lamivudine prepared using Tween 80 (a standard emulsion stabilizer). The drug entrapment efficiency of W/O/W multiple emulsion stabilized using GOd was measured as 91.60 ± 3.66% with sustained lamivudine release over a period of 6 h. Rheological and microscopic examinations indicated long term stability of the developed emulsion prepared using GOd. The results of the current study provide a promising scope to attain sustained drug release through the W/O/W multiple emulsions stabilized by GOd in antiviral therapies. Keywords: Gum odina, Lamivudine, Multiple emulsions

The current work deals with the designing of a solid self-microemulsifying drug delivery system (S-SMEDDS) of eprosartan mesylate (EPM) for improved bioavailability by enhancing the intestinal permeability of EPM. Two L-SMEDDSs containing EPM (OF9 and PF5) were formulated successfully using Tween 80 as surfactant, PEG 400 as cosurfactant and two different oil phases (i.e., 10% oleic acid and 50% peppermint oil), separately. The L-SMEDDSs were characterized by TEM image analysis and evaluated for self-emulsification efficiency, thermodynamic stability, droplet size and zeta potential, transmittance, cloud point, rheology and drug content. S-SMEDDSs containing EPM were prepared using OF9 and PF5 L-SMEDDSs, when these were separately adsorbed on to the surface of Aerosil 200, which displayed excellent flow properties, high drug content, and nanometer ranged particle size. These prepared S-SMEDDSs (OF9S4 and PF5S4) were characterized by SEM, FTIR, DSC and XRD analyses. Prepared OF9S4 S-SMEDDS exhibited significantly enhanced (p

The most up-to-date advancement in the biopolymer research includes applications of natural polymers to formulate different dosage forms due to their economic extraction, biocompatibility and biodegradability. Recent studies reveal that drug delivery carrier matrices made of single biopolymers are suffering from some potential drawbacks, such as poor mechanical properties, hysterical hydration and swelling rates, which may lead to unsatisfactory drug release effects from the dosage forms. To minimize these potential drawbacks, interpenetrating polymeric networks (IPNs) have been fabricated. Recently, many natural polymers (extracted from plant, algal, animal and microbiological sources) have been used to fabricate IPNs to formulate different drug delivery systems. These IPNs and semi-IPNs of naturally-derived carbohydrates and proteins have been prepared via either physical cross-linking or chemical cross-linking or combined physical-chemical cross-linking methods to exhibit controlled drug release characteristics. In the literature, numerous IPNs/semi-IPNs of naturally-derived carbohydrates and proteins have been reported. This article presents the fundamentals and preparation methodologies of IPNs emphasizing the uses of various natural polymers for the preparations of IPN-based drug delivery systems.

The current work deals with the effect of hydrophilic polymer in a multi-component β-cyclodextrin (βCD) inclusion complex for enhancement of solubility and taste masking ability of linezolid (LZ). The phase solubility studies indicated the formation of 1:1 M stoichiometric ratio of LZ to βCD in all complexes in presence or absence of hydrophilic polymer (HPMC e5LV). The high stability constant (Ks; 1089 M−1, 1393 M−1), complexation efficiency (CE; 3.347, 3.761) and more negativity of Gibbs free energy (ΔG; −238.69, −1019.61) of ternary complexes in presence of 2.5% w/v and 5% w/v of HPMCe5LV was compared with binary system (Ks, 1024 M−1: CE, 2.571: ΔG, −59.91), which resulted in the improved complexation stability and solubilizing efficiencies. Solid inclusion complexes of LZ-βCD were prepared in 1:0.3 M ratio by kneading, co-evaporation, physical mixing and microwave irradiation methods with or without addition of HPMC e5LV. The drug content, solubility, dissolution and taste masking of LZ in ternary complexes were significantly higher (p

Among these vesicular carriers, transferosomes are widely investigated and are gaining importance recently due to their ability to overcome the permeation difficulties through the stratum corneum. The objectives of the current investigation were to optimize and evaluate transferosomal transdermal gels containing risperidone. Transferosomes containing risperidone were formulated by reverse-phase evaporation and were transferred to 4% methylcellulose gel. The lipid and surfactant ratios on drug entrapment efficiency (DEE) and ex vivo risperidone permeation flux (Jss) of transferosomal gels through skin were optimized. The optimized formulation showed 61.54 ± 2.14% DEE, 589.50 nm average vesicle diameter and – 20.90 mV zeta potential. Jss of optimized gel was measured as 0.2387 ± 0.0245 μg/cm2/h. This tranferosomal system for transdermal risperidone delivery could be a better alternative over the conventional therapy.