Abstract

A series of blend microspheres were developed from gelatin and hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) by emulsion crosslinking method employing glutaraldehyde (GA) as a crosslinker. Valganociclovir hydrochloride (VHCL), an anti HIV drug, was loaded in to these microspheres via insitu method. These microspheres were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), to confirm the formation of crosslinking and absence of chemical interactions between drug, polymer and crosslinking agent. Further the microspheres were characterized by scanning electron microscopy to study the surface morphology of the microspheres and observed that the microspheres have smooth surface with spherical structure and no phase separation. The microspheres with the average particle sizes ranging from 614.5μm to 693.4μm were obtained. X-ray diffraction (X-RD) studies were performed to understand the crystalline nature of drug and its uniform distribution into blend microspheres. An in vitro release study was performed in phosphate buffer solution (pH-7.4) at 370C. The release rates were fitted to an emperical equation to understand the diffusion parameters, which indicate non-Fickian or anomalous trend release of VHCL. Further the results indicated that the release of drug was found for more than 12 h.

Key words: gelatin, hydroxypropyl cellulose, glutaraldehyde, anti HIV drug (VHCL)