ABSTRACT
Soluble starch microspheres containing chloramphenicol were prepared by interfacial cross-linking technique using terephthaloyl chloride. The effects of various emulsification conditions such as initial drug loading, pH of the aqueous phase, speed of agitation and concentration of cross-linking agent on the characteristics of microspheres were investigated. For comparison, commercial Sephadex microspheres containing chloramphenicol were also prepared by lyophilization. The in vitro release studies indicated that soluble starch microspheres caused chloramphenicol release profiles to be sustained longer than those prepared with Sephadex. The degradation behavior, hydrophilic and bioadhesive properties of the formulated chloramphenicol microspheres were compared with gelatin and albumin microspheres previously prepared in the laboratories. Sephadex microspheres exhibited the highest hydrophilic property, while albumin microspheres showed the best bioadhesive behavior when compared with other tested microspheres. On the other h and, polysaccharides microspheres had a certain resistance to digested by pancreatin and pepsin enzymes solutions. The release kinetics of chloramphenicol from polysaccharides microspheres was found to conform with Higuchi model