Design and synthesis of chitosan/alginate/zinc oxide nanocomposite hydrogel beads as carrier for metformin hydrochloride

In the current study, nanocomposite hydrogel beads were prepared from chitosan, alginate and zinc oxide nanoparticles using sodium tripolyphosphate as the crosslinking agent by ionotropic gelation method. The resulting nanocomposite hydrogel beads were characterized by FT-IR, XRD, TGA and UV methods and the beads were found to be an effective delivery system for the regulated release of the antidiabetic drug metformin. The swelling properties, drug loading and encapsulation efficiencies of the metformin loaded nanocomposite beads were evaluated and these parameters were found to be influenced by the concentrations of chitosan, alginate and ZnO nanoparticles. The rate of release of the drug from the nanocomposite beads was determined by UV spectroscopic method at lambda max 233 nm. An increase in the concentration of ZnO enhances the swelling properties but lowers the release rate. Swelling indices of the prepared formulations were in the range 5 -150. Maximum swelling index of 150 was observed for the formulation with 3 % chitosan, 2 % alginate and 15 % zinc oxide NPs. However, a maximum release rate of 83.23 % was observed for the formulation without ZnO and with 3 % chitosan, 2 % alginate. Controlled drug release was observed for the drug loaded chitosan/alginate/ZnO, hydrogel beads. The zinc oxide nanoparticles improved the in vitro alpha-glucosidase inhibitory activity of the formulations and the formulation with 5 % ZnO exhibited a maximum alpha-glucosidase inhibition rate of 62.92 %. The incorporation of ZnO nanoparticles enhanced the antioxidant properties of the formulations. The cell viability values of the samples were evaluated using L929 mouse fibroblast cells which confirmed the nontoxic nature of the samples. Dinitrosalicylic acid (DNS) studies proved that the prepared nanocomposites are biodegradable.