Study On The Preparation And Properties Of β-elemene ACA Microcapsules

Cancer is one of the refractory diseases which threat people's health and life.Among current therapy for cancers, surgeryis still the primary way for the malignantcancer patients. Because even a fractional cancer cells remained in the patient aftersurgery can cause recrudescence and carcinomatosis, the surgery therapy can notexert its full curative effect and it provokes a fatal threat for the patient. Aiming atthis problem, an emulsification/internal gelation method was adopted to encapsulateChinese anti-cancer drug, ?-elemene, into alginate/chitosan (ACA) microcapsules.The purpose is to controlled release in situ the cancerization position after surgicaloperation to restrain the cancer cells, improve the curative effect of surgery andextend patient's life.In this paper, emulsification/internal gelation method was successfully used toencapsulate high concentrationβ-elemene into ACA microcapsules. The effect andrules of preparation parameters on the physical and chemical properties of β-elemene ACA microcapsules was investigated. By controlling the parameters suchas concentration of alginate solution, impeller rotational speed, oil/water ratio,concentration of surfactant and drug payloads, β-elemene ACA microcapsules withideal sphericity and diameters distribution can be obtained.The factors and the rules that affect the in vitro release property of β-elemeneACA microcapsules were investigated and analyzed. It was found that microcapsulemembrane forming conditions have a great influence on the release property of β-elemene ACA microcapsules. When low molecular weight, concentration of0.4~0.5% chitosan and membrane forming time about 10min were adopted, a betterrelease property can be realized. Encapsulation efficiency of the microcapsulesprepared is above 5.37% and under 62.47%. In vitro release period of themicrocapsules is more than 7 days, which shows an elementary controlled releaseproperty. By acceleration experiment method, stability ofβ-elemene ACA microcapsuleswere studied. It was found that the preservation temperature have quite a influenceon the stability of β-elemene ACA microcapsules, and high temperature was notsuitable. At low temperature, the original encapsulation efficiency and releaseproperty of β-elemene ACA microcapsules were almost maintained, which meantgood stability. Furthermore, not only affect the release property, but also the stabilitycan be greatly affected by membrane forming conditions.