Extraction and encapsulation of prodigiosin in chitosan microspheres for targeted drug delivery

•Prodigiosin of ~ 92.8% purity was extracted from locally isolated Serratia marcescens.•This approach reduces the cost and ensure availability of drugs for cancer treatment.•High encapsulation efficiency which increased with increasing drug:polymer ratio•The percentage yield was generally poor due to the recovery process.•Prodigiosin greatly reduced the viability of the breast cancer cell line (MDA-MB-231).

The encapsulation of drugs in polymeric materials has brought opportunities to the targeted delivery of chemotherapeutic agents. These polymeric delivery systems are capable of maximizing the therapeutic activity, as well as reducing the side effects of anti-cancer agents. Prodigiosin, a secondary metabolite extracted from the bacteria, Serratia marcescens, exhibits anti-cancer properties. Prodigiosin-loaded chitosan microspheres were prepared via water-in-oil (w/o) emulsion technique, using glutaraldehyde as a cross-linker. The morphologies of the microspheres were studied using scanning electron microscopy. The average sizes of the microspheres were between 40 μm and 60 μm, while the percentage yields ranged from 42 ± 2% to 55.5 ± 3%. The resulting encapsulation efficiencies were between 66.7 ± 3% and 90 ± 4%. The in-vitro drug release from the microspheres was characterized by zeroth order, first order and Higuchi and Korsmeyer-Peppas models.