Artocarpus heterophyllus L. seed starch-blended gellan gum mucoadhesive beads of metformin HCl

Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam., family: Moraceae) seed starch (JFSS)-gellan gum (GG) mucoadhesive beads containing metformin HCl were developed through ionotropic gelation technique. The effect of GG to JFSS ratio and CaCl2 concentration on the drug encapsulation efficiency (DEE, %) and cumulative drug release at 10 h (R-10h, %) was optimized and analyzed using response surface methodology based on 3(2) factorial design. The optimized JFSS-GG beads containing metformin HCl showed DEE of 92.67 +/- 4.46%, R-10h of 61.30 +/- 2.37%, and mean diameter of 1.67 +/- 0.27 mm. The optimized beads showed pH-dependent swelling and mucoadhesivity with the goat intestinal mucosa. The in vitro drug release from all these JFSS-GG beads containing metformin HCl was followed zero-order pattern (R-2 = 0.9907-0.9975) with super case-II transport mechanism over a period of 10 h. The beads were also characterized by SEM and FTIR. The optimized JFSS-GG beads containing metformin HCl exhibited significant hypoglycemic effect in alloxan-induced diabetic rats over prolonged period after oral administration. (c) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.