Transdermal delivery of bovine serum albumin using snail mucin

Abstract

The study aimed at evaluating the bioadhesion properties and penetration enhancing effect of mucin-based bovine serum albumin (BSA) transdermal patches. Mucin was extracted from the giant African snail Archachatina maginata by differential precipitation with acetone and alum. Various batches of BSA loaded transdermal film patches were prepared with the precipitated mucin and varying volumes (0, 0.2 and 0.5 mL) of polyethylene glycol (PEG) as plasticizer. Prepared patches were evaluated for weight uniformity, patch thickness, folding endurance, moisture content and uptake, bioadhesion, drug content and in vitro and ex vivo diffusion studies. Differential scanning calorimetry analysis showed no interaction between BSA and mucin. Mean weight range from 0.11±0.02 to 0.13±0.05 g, moisture content (32 %) and moisture uptake was highest with patches prepared with acetone-precipitated mucin (up to 129 %) and decreased as PEG concentration increased. All the patches showed bioadhesion values between 1.70 - 1.98 g/sec. Drug diffusion across treated rat skin was 47 % after 12 h from patches prepared from acetone-precipitated mucin. Thus, snail mucin showed promise as a transdermal drug delivery base in the formulation of BSA patches because of its bioadhesion property and penetration enhancing effect.

Keywords: Bioadhesion, drug diffusion, proteins, mucin, transdermal delivery