Evaluation of mucoadhesiveness of polymers by BIACORE method and mucin-particle method.

To evaluate the reliability of the BIACORE method as a useful method for measuring the mucoadhesive interaction between chitosan and mucin, the mucin-particle method was used for comparison. In this study, the adhesivities of different-molecular-weight chitosans (chitosan Mw. 150,000, CS; low-molecular-weight chitosan, LCS) and hydrophobically modified chitosans (dodecylated CS, d-CS; dodecylated LCS, d-LCS) to mucin were determined. The BIACORE method showed that CS, LCS and d-CS could interact with mucin based on the increased resonance unit (RU) response after mucin was passed over the chitosans-immobilized sensor chip surface. Sensorgrams obtained from the interaction between these polymers and mucin also indicated the rate and strength of binding reaction. The rate and strength were higher for unmodified chitosans than hydrophobically modified chitosans. The simple in vitro mucoadhesive test or mucin-particle method revealed that the turbidity of unmodified chitosan/mucin mixtures was higher than that of dodecylated chitosans for all concentration of chitosans and mucin. The results from both BIACORE and the mucin-particle method implied that hydrophobic modification of chitosan reduced its adhesivity to mucin. The results from these two methods corresponded well. Therefore, the BIACORE method has promised as an alternative method for evaluating the adhesivity of adhesive polymers to mucin.

The effect of particle structure of chitosan-coated liposomes and type of chitosan on oral delivery of calcitonin.

To optimize the properties of chitosan-coated liposomes for oral administration of peptide drugs, we examined the effect of type of chitosan and the structure of liposomal systems on the mucoadhesiveness of liposomes and resultant pharmacological effects of the liposomal peptide drug. A low-molecular weight chitosan (LCS) and a high-molecular weight chitosan (CS) were used as coating polymers of liposomes containing elcatonin (eCT). The muco-penetrative behaviors across the mucous gel layer covering the intestinal epithelial cells and the pharmacological effect after intragastric administration were determined in rats. The results showed that both LCS-coated liposomes (LCS-Lips) and CS-coated liposomes (CS-Lips) could permeate the mucous layer in the small intestine. The most interesting result was that LCS-Lips containing eCT showed remarkably more prolonged effectiveness in decreasing the blood calcium concentration than did CS-Lips containing eCT, moreover, it was also found that LCS had more efficiency to protect eCT from the enzymatic degradation than CS. In comparing the area above the plasma calcium concentration time curves (AAC) values among eCT-containing liposomes with different structures, i.e. eCT adsorbed on coated liposomes (eCT-ad-CS-Lip, eCT-ad-LCS-Lips) and eCT encapsulated in coated liposomes (eCT-encap-CS-Lips, eCT-encap-LCS-Lips), eCT-encap-CS-Lip showed much higher effectiveness than eCT-ad-CS-Lip. However, the AAC value for eCT-ad-LCS-Lip was comparable to that for eCT-encap-CS-Lip, while the value for eCT-ad-CS-Lip was nearly zero. These results suggested that LCS is a good mucoadhesive polymer candidate for enhancing the bioavailability of orally administered peptide containing liposomes, while encapsulation of eCT within the liposomal particles is important to protect eCT against enzymatic degradation in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract.

Novel mucoadhesion tests for polymers and polymer-coated particles to design optimal mucoadhesive drug delivery systems.

To design an effective particulate drug delivery system having mucoadhesive function, several mucoadhesion tests for polymers and the resultant particulate systems were developed. Mucin particle method is a simple mucoadhesion test for polymers, in which the commercial mucin particles are used. By measuring the change in particle size or zeta potential of the mucin particle in a certain concentration of polymer solution, we could estimate the extent of their mucoadhesive property. BIACORE method is also a novel mucoadhesion test for polymers. On passing through the mucin suspension on the polymer-immobilized chip of BIACORE instrument, the interaction was quantitatively evaluated with the change in its response diagram. By using these mucoadhesion tests, we detected a strong mucoadhesive property of several types of chitosan and Carbopol. Evaluation of mucoadhesive property of polymer-coated particulate systems was demonstrated with the particle counting method developed by us. To detect the mucoadhesive phenomena in the intestinal tract, we observed the rat intestine with the confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM) after oral administration of the particulate systems. The resultant photographs clearly showed a longer retention of submicron-sized chitosan-coated liposomes (ssCS-Lip) in the intestinal tract than other liposomal particles tested such as non-coated liposomes and chitosan-coated multilamellar one. These observations explained well the superiority of the ssCS-Lip as drug carrier in oral administration of calcitonin in rats than other liposomal particles.

Improved intestinal absorption of calcitonin by mucoadhesive delivery of novel pectin-liposome nanocomplexes.

Self-assembling pectin-liposome nanocomplexes (PLNs) were prepared by a simple mixing of cationic liposomes with pectin solution, in order to improve intestinal absorption of calcitonin (eCT). Both in-vitro and in-vivo evaluations for PLNs were evaluated. The results showed that average particle size of PLNs was significantly larger than that of initial cationic liposomes. The surface charges were shifted from positive to negative after mixing with pectin. The PLNs made of high degree of esterification (DE) pectin showed less negatively charged values than those made of low DE pectin. The entrapment efficiency in cationic liposomes was in the same range even if the drug loading was increased. The in-vivo mucoadhesive test of pectin by confocal laser scanning microscopy demonstrated stronger mucoadhesive properties of PLNs made of low DE pectin, compared to cationic liposomes and PLNs made of other pectins. Moreover, high intensities of a fluorescent marker could be observed throughout the small intestines (i.e. duodenum, jejunum and ileum) and remained at the site of mucoadhesion even after 6 h of administration of PLNs made of low DE pectin. The eCT-loaded PLNs demonstrated a strong pharmacological action over the eCT solution and eCT-loaded liposomes, in which an enhanced and prolonged reduction in plasma calcium concentration of rats was observed. This was attributed to the ability of pectin to adhere to the mucus layer and prolong retention in the intestinal mucosa.