Formulation of Chitosan-Saponin Microbeads using Microfluidic Technology

Type II diabetes mellitus caused adverse impact on almost 3.5 million patients locally. Conventional treatment for such disorder includes oral administration of anti-diabetic drugs or herbs supplement. However, the performance of this drugs in regulating blood glucose level is not too reliable due to the occurrence of weight gain, hypoglycaemia and low tolerability as well as structural breakdown of herbal supplements during consumption. In this project, an alternative approach was attempted by immobilising saponin, a known insulin stimulant extracted from plants (e.g. bitter gourd, eggplant or soapbark) onto chitosan beads via microfluidic technology. This technology offers advantages of producing micro-sized droplet with high surface area to volume ratio and minimal coefficient of variation for more accurate dosage. The droplets undergo solidification via cross-linking with NaOH as solvent. These beads are approximately 550 microns with 5.12 % polydispersity in size. The solidified beads were used as carrier for the immobilisation of saponin. This was achieved through altering the surface charge of the microbeads with Phosphate Buffer Solution (PBS), a commonly used electrolyte for the surface modification of chitosan before coating saponin onto its surface. Successful adsorption is rectified through FTIR, FESEM and EDX analysis.