Alginate Microspheres Encapsulating Ciprofloxacin HCl: Characteristics, Release and Antibacterial Activity

Drug delivery system through the lungs is an alternative delivery to overcome oral and parenteral delivery problems.The drug does not experience first pass metabolism in the liver, bioavailability, low side effects, and the right dose to be delivered to the target.To efficiently deposit the lungs, particles must have a size of 1-5 µm.Ciprofloxacin HCl is an effective broad spectrum antibiotic which was formulated into microspheres.The purpose was to determine the effects of alginate polymer concentrations and CaCl2 concentration on the characteristics, release, and antibacterial activity.Microspheres were produced by ionotropic gelation technique with aerosolization method.The results showed spherical characteristic microspheres, with particle size of less than 5µm,moisture content of less than 10%, yield was between 70.63% -82.94%, drug loading and entrapment efficiency was ranged of 2.58% -4.32% and 27.39% -80.74%.F3 was the optimum formula.For 24 hours, the ciprofloxacin released was in the range of 80-100% at pH 7.4.Drug release kinetic showed zero order kinetics with mechanism based on non-fickian diffusion, an increased concentration of alginate and CaCl2 showed a decrease in release rate.Both microspheres and released samples, antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli was shown.Overall, ciprofloxacin HCl-alginate microspheres produced by ionotropic gelation technique aerosolization method were highly recommended for pulmonary drug delivery.