Immobilization of coacervate microcapsules in multilayer sodium alginate beads for efficient oral anticancer drug delivery.

We have designed and evaluated coacervate microcapsules-immobilized multilayer sodium alginate beads (CMs-M-ALG-Beads) for oral drug delivery. The CMs-M-ALG-Beads were prepared by immobilization of doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) loaded chitosan/carboxymethyl coacervate microcapsules (DOX:CS/CMCS-CMs) in the core and layers of the multilayer sodium alginate beads. The obtained CMs-M-ALG-beads exhibited layer-by-layer structure and rough surface with many nanoscale particles. The swelling characteristic and drug release results indicated that 4-layer CMs-M-ALG-Beads possessed favorable gastric acid tolerance (the swelling rate <5%, the cumulative drug release rate <3.8%). In small intestine, the intact DOX:CS/CMCS-CMs were able to rapidly release from CMs-M-ALG-Beads with the dissolution of ALG matrix. Ex vivo intestinal mucoadhesive and permeation showed that CMs-M-ALG-Beads exhibited continued growth for P(app) values of DOX, which was 1.07-1.15 folds and 1.28-1.38 folds higher than DOX:CS:CMCS-CMs in rat jejunum and ileum, respectively, demonstrating that CMs-M-ALG-Beads were able to enhance the absorption of DOX by controlled releasing DOX:CS/CMCS-CMs and prolonging the contact time between the DOX:CS/CMCS-CMs and small intestinal mucosa.