Novel mucoadhesion tests for polymers and polymer-coated particles to design optimal mucoadhesive drug delivery systems

Evaluation of mucoadhesive property of polymer-coated particulate systems was demonstrated with the particle counting method developed by us. To detect the mucoadhesive phenomena in the intestinal tract, we observed the rat intestine with the confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM) after oral administration of the particulate systems. The resultant photographs clearly showed a longer retention of submicron-sized chitosan-coated liposomes (ssCS-Lip) in the intestinal tract than other liposomal particles tested such as non-coated liposomes and chitosan-coated multilamellar one. These observations explained well the superiority of the ssCS-Lip as drug carrier in oral administration of calcitonin in rats than other liposomal particles.