Ovomucin nanoparticles: promising carriers for mucosal delivery of drugs and bioactive compounds.

Ovomucin, with a similar structure to mucin and gelation ability at room temperature, is a potential mucosal carrier. To evaluate this potential, the mucoadhesive property of ovomucin was studied by the tensile strength and rheology methods, and compared with three known mucoadhesive polymers, chitosan, polyacrylic acid (PAA), and alginate. Ovomucin particles were basically spherical in shape with an average size of ~572, 235 and 54 nm prepared at pH 5, 6.5, and 9, respectively. The absolute value of the zeta potential increased from ~ -51 mV at pH 5 to ~ -59 and -91 mV at pH 6.5 and 9, respectively. Drug loading efficiency of ovomucin particles for brilliant blue (negatively charged), riboflavin (non-ionic), and ciprofloxacin (positively charged) were ~87.7, 25.4, and 89.1%, respectively. The release of encapsulated ciprofloxacin was evaluated in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), simulated intestinal fluid (SIF), and simulated gastric fluid (SGF). The mechanism of the releases was studied using different mathematical models: zero-order, first-order, Higuchi, Hixson-Crowell, and Korsmeyer-Peppas models. Approximately 61 and 67% of loaded ciprofloxacin were released from the particles over 7 h of incubation in PBS and SIF, respectively. The kinetics of drug releases in PBS and SIF followed the Fickian diffusion mechanism (Korsmeyer-Peppas model). Therefore, ovomucin could function as a mucoadhesive carrier to efficiently encapsulate drugs and sustainably release them in the non-digestive and intestinal mucosal tissues.