Ionotropically Gelled Novel Hydrogel Beads: Preparation, Characterization and In vitro Evaluation.

Prolonged release drug delivery system of stavudine was made by ionotropic gelation and polyelectrolyte complexation technique. Cross-linking reinforced chitosan-gellan complex beads were prepared by gelation of anionic gellan gum, the primary polymer, with oppositely charged counter ion to form beads which were further complexed with chitosan as a polyelectrolyte. The effect of this polymer on release profile of drug was studied. Beads without chitosan complexation were also made. The reaction of chitosan-gellan complex dominates the formation of skin layer on the surface of beads. Stavudine an antiretroviral drug was selected as novel drug for the experiment. The final formulations were subjected to in vitro evaluation and several characterization studies. Batches with gellan gum shows Higuchi model, while chitosan-gellan shows zero order release. All the batches with copolymer showed sustained the drug release more than 12 h, whereas with gellan gum alone showed up to 10 h. Batches with chitosan showed maximum drug encapsulation efficiency.