Crispin R. Dass

A novel organic–inorganic gliclazide-loaded composite bead was developed by an ionic gelation process using acidified CaCl2, chitosan and tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) as a crosslinker. The beads were manufactured by crosslinking an inorganic silicone elastomer (-OH terminated polydimethylsiloxane, PDMS) with TEOS at different ratios before grafting onto an organic backbone (Na-alginate) using a 32 factorial experimental design. Gliclazide’s encapsulation efficiency (EE%) and drug release over 8 h (% DR 8 h) were set as dependent responses for the optimisation of a pharmaceutical formula (herein referred to as ‘G op’) by response surface methodology. EE % and %DR 8 h of G op were 93.48% ± 0.19 and 70.29% ± 0.18, respectively. G op exhibited a controlled release of gliclazide that follows the Korsmeyer–Peppas kinetic model (R2 = 0.95) with super case II transport and pH-dependent swelling behaviour. In vitro testing of G op showed 92.17% ± 1.18 cell viability upon testing on C2C12 myoblasts, indicating the compatibility of this novel biomaterial platform with skeletal muscle drug delivery.