In-vitro release kinetics of cefadroxil-loaded sodium alginate interpenetrating network beads

This paper reports the development of new interpenetrating polymeric networks of sodium alginate with gelatin or egg albumin crosslinked with a common cross-linking agent, glutaraldehyde, for the in-vitro release of cefadroxil. The beads formed were characterized by Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. Swelling/drying experiments were performed to compute the diffusion coefficients and the molecular mass between cross-links of the beads. The release results were evaluated using an empirical equation to understand the transport mechanism. The extent of cross-linking was studied in terms of the size and release characteristics of the beads. The experimental and derived quantities have been used to study their dependencies on the nature of the polymeric beads, transport mechanism, encapsulation efficiency and drug diffusion, as well as the cross-linking abilities of the polymers. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.