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Pluronics (tri-block copolymers) have a significant role in the pharmaceutical industry and are being used to enhance the solubility and delivery of hydrophobic drugs in different marketed formulations. However, instability and unsatisfactory drug-loading capacity are the major weak spots of these pluronic micelles. The present research work is designed to solve the existing issues by the solubilization study of hydrophobic drugs in different pluronic micelles at variable temperatures. The solubilization of the hydrophobic antiepileptic drug lamotrigine (LAM) in five different pluronic micelles viz. P84, P85, F127, F108, and F68 was studied at different temperatures, 37, 47, and 57 °C, using UV–visible spectroscopy. The solubilization of LAM in pluronic micelles increased with the increase in temperature. Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) measurements were used to observe the morphological and structural changes taking place in pluronics by increasing the temperature. The SANS results showed the morphological changes of spherical P84 micelles to prolate ellipsoidal micelles at 57 °C due to remarkable increase in the aggregation number. This morphological conversion was further confirmed by the heat transfer method (HTM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements. DLS measurements confirmed that LAM-loaded micelles showed a greater hydrodynamic diameter ( D h ) compared to unloaded micelles, assuring LAM solubilization in the pluronic micelles. The rate of controlled release of LAM from five different pluronic micelles was accessed by using different kinetic models to evaluate the in vitro release profile. This is the first report in which HTM measurements are established for the analysis of morphological changes in the thermoresponsive pluronic micelles in real time. The present work corroborates how we can control the drug-loading capacity, morphological structure of the drug carrier, as well as drug release by simply changing the temperature of pluronic micellar media.

Native and extruded corn, field pea (FP), and kidney bean (KB) starches were evaluated for structure, in vitro digestibility and functional properties. Starches were extruded at 20 and 24% feed moisture (FM) using a twin screw extruder. Starches extruded at higher FM showed higher L * (luminosity) values while lower a * and b * values. Extrusion led to complete structure destruction, reduced crystallinity and formation of V type polymorph in starches. Extruded starches showed lower water absorption index (WAI), retrogradation (syneresis) and paste viscosities but higher water solubility index (WSI) as compared to native starches. CS showed lower retrogradation tendency than KB and FP starches. WAI, WSI, and retrogradation were higher at lower FM than those at higher FM. Extruded starches showed higher rapidly digestible starch (RDS) and lower resistant starch (RS) content. All starches extruded at higher FM showed significantly lower RDS content as compared to those extruded at lower FM. KB showed the highest RS content followed by FP and CS. Starches extruded at higher FM showed higher RS content as compared to those extruded at lower FM.

The effect of substitution of wheat flour with gelatinized-retrograded starch (GRS) and extruded starch (ES) at 10 and 20 % levels on characteristics of cookies, muffins and noodles was evaluated. Cookies made by substitution of flour with GRS or ES were lighter in color, showed higher spread ratio and resistant starch (RS) content. Muffins made by substitution of flour with GRS or ES were lighter in color, showed less height, specific volume and gas cells and higher RS content. Muffins containing GRS were less firm while those made by incorporating ES showed higher firmness than those made without substitution. Noodles made with substitution of flour with GRS or ES showed higher RS content and reduced water uptake, gruel solid loss, hardness and adhesiveness. Cookies and noodles prepared with and without substitution of flour with GRS or ES did not show any significant differences in terms of overall acceptability scores.

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Microspheres are multiparticulate drug delivery systems that are designed to deliver drugs to a particular location at a fixed rate. Microspheres are free-flowing powders made up of biodegradable proteins or synthetic polymers with particle sizes ranging from 1 to 1000µm. Benefits of the use of microspheres in fields such as drug delivery, bone tissue manufacturing, and the absorption and desorption of contaminants by regeneration. The study shows the method of planning and measurement of microsphere parameters. Microspheres are complex, such as bioadhesive microspheres, polymeric microspheres, magnetic microspheres, floating microspheres, radioactive microspheres. Microspheres may be used in various fields such as cosmetics, oral drug delivery, target drug delivery, ophthalmic drug delivery, gene delivery, and others listed in the study. In order to achieve optimal therapeutic effectiveness, it is important to deliver the agent to the target tissue at an optimum level within the right timeframe, resulting in little toxicity and minimal side effects. There are different approaches to supplying the medicinal drug to the target site in a continuous managed manner. One such strategy is the use of microspheres as drug carriers. In this article, the value of the microsphere is seen as a novel drug delivery carrier to achieve site-specific drug delivery was discussed. Keywords: microspheres, method of preparations, polymer, bioadhesion, types of microspheres