Interpolymer interaction in insulin-chitosan complexes

Characterization of Taurocholic Acid Binding With Insulin for Potential Oral Formulation Using Different Methods

In diabetes management, oral formulation of insulin (INS) has the potential to improve safety, convenience, and patient-centered care compared to subcutaneous injections. However, its bioavailability remains limited, necessitating improved delivery strategies. Recent clinical trials indicate that taurocholic acid (TCA) can enhance the bioavailability of oral INS as an absorption enhancer. In this work, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) analysis revealed the formation of 1:1-1:4 INS-TCA complexes. MS/MS was used to explore the fragmentation pathway of complex ions and confirm binding stability in the gas phase. Circular dichroism spectra showed no clear conformational change in INS upon TCA binding, even though TCA enhanced INS's structural stability. Using Taylor dispersion analysis (TDA), we determined the diffusion coefficient and hydrodynamic radius of INS and its complexes. TCA binding was observed to increase INS size in both the 1:1 and 1:2 INS-TCA complexes. The binding constant of INS and TCA (1.3 × 103 L/mol) with approximately five binding sites was obtained via pressure-assisted capillary electrophoresis frontal analysis. Molecular docking simulations indicated that TCA binds to external binding sites on the INS B chain (near Ser-B9, Glu-B13, and Phe-B24 residues), consistent with ESI-MS and TDA results. These findings suggest that TCA binding may enhance INS absorption and increase the bioavailability of oral INS therapy.

Iontophoretically controlled insulin delivery via water-soluble conductive polymer PANI:PSS and thermoplastic polyurethane matrix

Transdermal insulin delivery is an alternative route to deliver insulin through the body skin with the challenges to overcome the low drug skin permeability and high molecular weight. Polyaniline doped with poly(4-styrenesulfonic acid) (PANI:PSS), a conductive polymer with the high electrical conductivity, was synthesized and utilized as a drug carrier to improve the drug delivery capability from a porous thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) matrix. The insulin was electrostatically attached to PANI:PSS based on the ion exchange between insulin and PSS. For the in vitro drug release of insulin loaded PANI:PSS relative to the pristine insulin alone, the amount of insulin released was improved to 84.70% with the time to equilibrium of 2 h under the electrical field of 6 V. For the ex vivo release-skin permeation, the amount insulin released and permeated became lower at 57.02% with time to equilibrium of 2 h, due to the pig skin acting as a barrier for insulin permeation. The modified insulin transdermal delivery, with PANI:PSS as the drug carrier and drug enhancer relative to without, is shown here to influence the insulin release rate, amount, and duration, suitable to treat diabetes patients.

Molecular dynamic and in vitro evaluation of chitosan/tripolyphosphate nanoparticles as an insulin delivery system at two different pH values

Understanding the atomic interaction mechanism between chitosan and insulin at different pH levels is essential in the design of chitosan-based drug-delivery systems. In the present study, insulin-loaded nanoparticles were prepared via ionic gelation of tripolyphosphate (TPP) and chitosan with 76 ± 5.5% encapsulation efficiency. Our results showed that the nanoparticles were spherical with a size of 254 nm. Furthermore, the in vitro release profile of insulin was evaluated for two different pH levels. The release of insulin from nanoparticles after 48 h at pH 4.0 was 92%, compared to 56% at pH 7.4. The kinetics of the release were best fitted by the Weibull equation, which described a burst release in the first five hours followed by a sustained insulin release for up to 48 h. Moreover, we designed a long single chain chitosan (128 kDa)/TPP nanoparticles in real size for the first time and studied the system behavior in acidic and neutral environments using molecular dynamic simulation for 40 nanoseconds (ns). Our results showed that chitosan chains opened more with higher root-mean-square deviation (RMSD) values at pH 4.0 than at pH 7.4. Also, RMSD plots for insulin and TPP molecules showed that insulin molecules diffused away from chitosan chains, and that TPP were randomly dispersed further away from the chitosan chain in an acidic medium than in a neutral one. The in silico studies were in agreement with our in vitro data. Thus self-assembled chitosan/TPP nanoparticles show promise as a means to release protein drugs in acidic environments.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.