Diethyl methyl chitosan as an intestinal paracellular enhancer: ex vivo and in vivo studies

Chitosan exhibits favorable biological properties such as no toxicity, biocompatibility and biodegradability; therefore, it has attracted great attention in both pharmaceutical and biomedical fields. Chitosan exhibits poor solubility at pH values above 6 that prevents enhancing effects at the sites of absorption of drugs. In the present work, N-diethyl methyl chitosan (DEMC) was prepared and the enhancing effect of this polymer was investigated. Ex vivo studies have shown a significant increase in absorption of brilliant blue in the presence of diethyl methyl chitosan in comparison with chitosan. DEMC with positive charges is able to interact with tight junctions of colon epithelial cells and hence increases permeability of brilliant blue across the tight junctions. In vivo investigations have exhibited the absorption enhancer effects of DEMC on the colon absorption of insulin in normal and diabetic rats. The insulin absorption from the rat's colon was evaluated by its hypoglycemic effect. A significant decrease in blood glucose was observed, when mixture of insulin and DEMC was introduced in ascending colon of rats. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.