Abstract. Bovine serum albumin-loaded beads were prepared by ionotropic gelation of alginate with calcium chloride and chitosan. The effect of sodium alginate concentration and chitosan concentration on the particle size and loading efficacy was studied. The diameter of the beads formed is dependent on the size of the needle used. The optimum condition for preparation alginate-chitosan beads was alginate concentration of 3% and chitosan concentration of 0.25% at pH 5. The resulting bead formulation had a loading efficacy of 98.5% and average size of 1,501 μm, and scanning electron microscopy images showed spherical and smooth particles. Chitosan concentration significantly influenced particle size and encapsulation efficiency of chitosan-alginate beads (p<0.05). Decreasing the alginate concentration resulted in an increased release of albumin in acidic media. The rapid dissolution of chitosan-alginate matrices in the higher pH resulted in burst release of protein drug.

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A polymeric delayed release protein delivery system was investigated with albumin as the model drug. The polysaccharide chitosan was reacted with sodium alginate in the presence of calcium chloride to form beads with a polyelectrolyte. In this study, attempts were made to extend albumin release in the phosphate buffer at pH 6.8 from the alginate-chitosan beads by reinforcing the matrix with bile salts. Sodium taurocholate was able to prevent albumin release at pH 1.2, protecting the protein from the acidic environment and extending the total albumin release at pH 6.8. This effect was explained by an interaction between the permanent negatively charged sulfonic acid of sodium taurocholate with the amino groups of chitosan. Mild formulation conditions, high bovine serum albumin (BSA) entrapment efficiency, and resistance to gastrointestinal release seem to be synergic and promising factors toward the development of an oral protein delivery form.