Modification of psyllium polysaccharides for use in oral insulin delivery

There is no doubt that fibers, in particular viscous dietary fibers, have positive effects on human health, both in the prevention and in treatment of chronic diseases. Psyllium, a medicinally important serum glucose reducing natural polysaccharide, if suitably tailored to prepare the hydrogels for controlled release of insulin; it can act as double potential candidate for cure of diabetes mellitus. Keeping in view the therapeutic importance of psyllium and its gel-forming nature we have prepared psyllium and methacrylamide based hydrogels by using N,N′-methylenebisacrylamide as crosslinker. The present paper discusses the effect of pH on swelling kinetics of the hydrogels and release dynamics of insulin from drug-loaded hydrogels, for the evaluation of the swelling mechanism and drug release mechanism from the hydrogels. Non-Fickian diffusion mechanism has been observed for the release of insulin in pH 2.2 buffer and pH 7.4 buffer.