Novel pH-sensitive alginate hydrogel delivery system reinforced with gum tragacanth for intestinal targeting of nutraceuticals.

The present study utilizes the novel combination of Gum tragacanth (GT) and sodium alginate (SA) to reinforce SA hydrogel beads. The composite hydrogel beads were encapsulated with phenolic compounds extracted from Basella sps. The rheological studies conferred increased elastic property of GT incorporated formulations. Higher swelling behavior was observed in simulated intestinal fluid (SIF) with increasing GT content in SA formulations. SA-GT composite hydrogels revealed increased encapsulation efficiency with sustained release of phenolic compounds in SIF. GT incorporated hydrogel beads exhibited increased biodegradation (up to 82% weight loss) in biodegradation media (in vitro). FTIR study found no molecular interaction between SA and GT. TGA analysis revealed that GT incorporation did not affect the thermal behavior of SA. Furthermore, SA-GT encapsulated hydrogels showed remarkable cytotoxicity against osteosarcoma cells. Thus our findings suggest SA-GT gel formulation could be used as a promising delivery system for drugs and nutraceutical compounds.