Production and drug release assesment of melatonin loaded alginate/gum arabic beads

In this work, entrapment of melatonin in alginate/gum arabic beads and their controlled drug release features are investigated. The entrapment efficiency of melatonin, which is a hormone and antioxidant, on optimized alginate/gum arabic beads calculated to be 77.82±4.47%. The structure of alginate/gum arabic beads is elucidated using FTIR, DTA and SEM techniques. Melatonin loading capacity of the beads was calculated to be 0.62%. The swelling of the melatonin loaded alginate/gum arabic beads at the end of 3 hours, in in vitro stomach and small intestine media, were calculated to be 58.8% and 986.6%, respectively. Release of melatonin from melatonin entrapped beads in vitro to stomach media (pH 1.5) was found to be 44.1% for the first 30 minutes and 49.5% at the end of 24 hours. Similar release study was conducted in in vitro small intestine media (pH 7.4) and release of melatonin was calculated to be 42.8% for the first 30 minutes and 45.2% at the end of 24 hours. Release studies conducted in successive in vitro stomach and small intestine media did not give significantly different results. Ultimately, it was concluded that melatonin loaded alginate/gum arabic beads produced can be used as melatonin carriers and release systems.