Obtenção de microcristais de glicose e encapsulação em matrizes lipídicas

Abstract

Nocturnal hypoglycemia is a common problem for children and young adults with type 1 diabetes (mellitus). Treatment is usually made through the administration of glucose or glucagon, but when hypoglycemia occurs during sleep, the perception capacity of this condition is reduced. An alternative to conventional treatments can be adjusted by the use of delivery systems for delivering carbohydrates overnight through their encapsulation. It is known that the size of the capsules where the substance of interest is released, it is of paramount importance in maintaining a prolonged release. The reduction in solids particle size reaching the micro or nanometer scale tends to enhance the biological activity of drugs. Our objective is to get micrometric crystals of glucose and perform their encapsulation in lipid matrices. Glucose was used as a material to be encapsulated and Compritol as lipid matrix. Obtaining micro crystal took place through using an Ultraturrax disperser type and its encapsulation was made by hot dispersion technique. The morphological characterization was carried out using optical microscopy. The concentration of glucose actually encapsulated was determined by highperformance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The way the turbulence was performed influence on the final crystal morphology ranging from micron to macro meter agglomerated crystals without agglomeration. Glucose can be encapsulated in a lipid matrix efficiently and the method was robust against variations of experimental conditions. This efficiency depends mainly on the particle size and its concentration.