Maleimide-functionalized carboxymethyl cellulose: A novel mucoadhesive polymer for transmucosal drug delivery.

Abstract

The objective of this research was to develop a novel mucoadhesive polymer for drug delivery applications based on N-(2-aminoethyl) maleimide-functionalized carboxymethyl cellulose in which the weight ratios of the materials were tuned to explore the condition providing the highest maleimide content on the polymer. The polymers were synthesized from N-(2-aminoethyl) maleimide that was conjugated to carboxymethyl cellulose with their mucoadhesive properties examined by tensile testing, rheology, and flow-through analysis and their biocompatibilities evaluated on the human gingival fibroblast cell line (HGF-1). The anti-inflammatory drug benzydamine was loaded into mucoadhesive-polymer-based tablets and used to demonstrate the application of the synthesized polymer. The polymer exhibited superior mucoadhesive capability compared to carboxymethyl cellulose through the interaction between maleimide moiety and mucin. The functionalized polymer also possessed the ability to control the release of benzydamine with Higuchi's release model and was proven to be a potential candidate in mucoadhesive drug delivery.