Investigation of paracetamol loading and release properties of microcapsules obtained from the plane tree (Platanus orientalis) pollen

Exine structure (sporopollenin) found in the outer covering of plant pollens are attractive material for drug encapsulation. Herein, we produced sporopollenin microcages from pollens of Platanus orientalis by removing non-exine material with acid and base treatments. Paracetamol, the most widely used analgesic drug, was encapsulated into the sporopollenin microcages. Then, pollen, sporopollenin, paracetamol and paracetamol-loaded sporopollenin microcages were characterised with FT-IR, TGA and SEM. The analytical analyses demonstrated structurally intact, highly reticulated and thermally stable sporopollenin microcages. The encapsulation efficiency of the sporopollenin microcages was found to be 8.24% and 23.7% by passive loading technique and evaporating loading technique respectively. In vitro release studies were performed in PBS (pH=7.4) and HCl (pH=1.2) buffer solutions to test the suitability of sporopollenin microcages for encapsulation and to see pH dependency of drug release. This study revealed that sporopollenin from P. orientalis can provide a new insight into drug encapsulation studies.