Design of pectin beads for oral protein delivery

Abstract

Protein and peptide drugs are becoming a very important class of therapeutic agents owing to recent and remarkable advances in the area of biotechnology. However, most of them are not therapeutically active after oral administration due to severe physical and enzymatic barriers of the gastrointestinal tract. A combination of colonic targeting using pectin-based systems and microencapsulation methods was used to increase the oral bioavailability of proteins. The purpose of this investigation was, therefore, to study under gastrointestinal the release conditions of bovine serum albumin from calcium pectinate beads prepared by extrusion /external gelation. Matrix reinforcement with dextran sulfate and different types of coatings was investigated.