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Fabrication, characterization and evaluation of bacterial cellulose-based capsule shells for oral drug delivery

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Abstract

Bacterial cellulose (BC) was investigated for the first time for the preparation of capsule shells for immediate and sustained release of drugs. The prepared capsule shells were characterized using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The BC capsule shells were studied for drug release using an USP type-I dissolution apparatus. Irrespective of the drying method and the thickness of the BC sheet, the capsule shells displayed an immediate drug release profile. Moreover, the addition of release-retardant cellulosic polymers sustained the drug release having first-order kinetics for hydroxypropylmethylcellulose and carboxymethyl cellulose sodium with R 2 values of 0.9995 and 0.9954, respectively. Furthermore, these capsules shells remained buoyant in 0.1 N HCl (pH 1.2) solution up to 12 h. This study showed that BC is a promising alternative to gelatin capsules with both immediate and sustained drug release properties depending upon the compositions of the encapsulated materials.

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Acknowledgments

Hanif Ullah would like to thank the COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Pakistan, for the funded project and HEC, Pakistan for the scholarship. Dr. Hélder A. Santos acknowledges financial support from the Academy of Finland (decision nos. 252215 and 281300), the University of Helsinki Research Funds, the Biocentrum Helsinki and the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007–2013, grant no. 310892).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacy, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Abbottabad, 22060, Pakistan

    Hanif Ullah, Munair Badshah & Taous Khan

  2. Division of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Hanif Ullah, Mohammad-Ali Shahbazi & Hélder A. Santos

  3. Laboratory of Industrial Physics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku, 20014, Turku, Finland

    Ermei Mäkilä & Jarno Salonen

  4. DTU Nanotech, Department of Micro- and Nanotechnology, Technical University of Denmark, Ørsteds Plads, DK-2800 Kgs, Lyngby, Denmark

    Mohammad-Ali Shahbazi

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  1. Hanif Ullah
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  2. Munair Badshah
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  3. Ermei Mäkilä
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  4. Jarno Salonen
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  5. Mohammad-Ali Shahbazi
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  6. Hélder A. Santos
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  7. Taous Khan
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Correspondence to Hélder A. Santos or Taous Khan.

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Ullah, H., Badshah, M., Mäkilä, E. et al. Fabrication, characterization and evaluation of bacterial cellulose-based capsule shells for oral drug delivery. Cellulose 24, 1445–1454 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-017-1202-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-017-1202-4

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