Oral absorption study of levodopa­-loaded chitosan microparticles / Mohamad Zhafran Kamaruzaman

Levodopa is the most common drug that has been used to treat Parkinson Disease. This study was conducted to increase the bioavailability of levodopa after size reduction andto study the pharmacokinetic profiles of levodopa loaded chitosan microparticles after oral administration. Levodopa-loaded chitosan microparticles has been formulated by using ionic gelation method. The characterization of microparticle was carried out by using Malvern Particle Size Analyzer to evaluate the mean particle size and uniformity of levodopa-loaded chitosan microparticle which was 39.9 µm. By using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), the morphology of the levodopa loaded chitosan microparticle showed levodopa was encapsulated in the chitosan-sodium TPP polymer. The value of drug entrapment efficiency for the levodopa loaded chitosan was 75.06%. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) showed that there was interaction and extension of hydrogen bonding between sodium TPP. The characterization by using X-Ray Diffraction showed the amorphous state of levodopa loaded chitosan after blended with chitosan. By pharmacokinetic study, it showed AUC value was 5664.19±132µglml.min as compared to the control (3436.17±385.52). The concentration of levodopa microparticles was significantly increased (p <0.05) as compared to unprocessed levodopa.