Desenvolvimento de sistemas quitosana/piperina para liberação controlada de fármacos.

Abstract

Controlled drug delivery systems offer many advantages when compared to other conventional dosage methods with biodegradable polysaccharides gaining enough acceptance in the development of these systems. Chitosan is an example of a biodegradable polysaccharide, whose rate of release can be modulated from the ionic crosslinking with sodium tripolyphosphate (TPP). Piperine is one of the major constituent of black pepper, having many pharmacological actions that can cause the death of cancer cells and when combined with chitosan has better bioavailability and faster action. Therefore, this study aimed to develop and comparatively evaluate polymer membranes of chitosan and crosslinked chitosan by TPP to be used in a controlled release system of piperine, in order to obtain an alternative route for the administration of this drug system. Piperine was added under constant stirring to the solution of chitosan and membranes were obtained by the solvent evaporation method. The developed membranes were characterized by the techniques of Infrared Spectroscopy in the Region Fourier Transform (FTIR), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Optical Microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy X-Ray (EDS), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), Scanning Calorimetry Analysis of Difference (DSC), Efficiency Charge (EC) by liquid Chromatography Ultra Efficiency (HPLC), Assessment of Cell Viability of Macrophages (MTT). It was observed by FTIR analysis, bands characteristic of chitosan, the crosslinking agent and piperine, as well as bands characterizing an interaction between chitosan and piperine. The XRD technique showed change in semi-crystalline nature of chitosan in the presence of piperine and tripolyphosphate. It was possible to see, through the techniques of OM and SEM, changes in the morphology of the membrane containing piperine compared to pure chitosan, with the presence of fibrillar particles. TG analysis showed that, when piperine was added to the chitosan it provided a smaller weight loss of the system, showing the interaction between chitosan and piperine. DSC analysis showed that addition of piperine into chitosan provided greater stability to the system. The charging efficiency test showed that the drug can be entrapped by 57% in the uncrosslinked membranes and crosslinking influenced the extraction of drug. The developed membranes showed cytotoxic potential for human breast cancer cells MCF 7. Under the developed conditions in this research, MQPR system was shown as a reference for drug delivery testing and new biological tests. Given the above, the developed system is presented as promising for obtaining a system for controlled release of drugs.