The current effort focuses on developing and improving mucoadhesive microspheres containing saxagliptin hydrochloride dihydrate in order to successfully control Type 2 diabetes mellitus. Ionotropic gelation was used to make microspheres utilizing natural polymers such as sodium alginate and Tinospora cordifolia mucilage (TCM), which was then, improved using a three-factorial design. The goals were to increase oral bioavailability, extend pharmaceutical release, and improve stomach residence duration. The nine manufactured batches drug content, entrapment efficacy, mucoadhesive strength, and in vitro drug release profile were analyzed. Batch F5 was determined to be the best, with a drug concentration of 59.90%, an entrapment efficiency of 65.82%, and continuous release over eight hours. With a notable level of mucoadhesion (up to 27% after 8 hours), the microspheres showed excellent retention in the gastrointestinal mucosal site. Analysis using FTIR, DSC, SEM, and XRD verified the homogeneous amorphous dispersion and drug-polymer compatibility. Additional bioactivity was confirmed by antibacterial investigations of the herbal extract, which revealed considerable inhibition zones against Escherichia coli (18.76 mm) and Staphylococcus aureus (17.54 mm). The drug release followed a zero-order process with non-Fickian diffusion, according to kinetic modeling. All things considered, the TCM and alginate-based mucoadhesive microsphere system offers a promising natural polymer-based platform for long-term oral delivery of antidiabetic medications, which may lower dosage frequency and improve patient compliance.
Keywords: Mucoadhesive microspheres, Tinospora cordifolia, Saxagliptin hydrochloride, Sustained release, Ionotropic gelation.
How to cite this article: Desai SR, Ghorpade VS, Shaik YM, Sutar SB, Jagtap RS, Patil SA, Design and Evaluation of Saxagliptin-Loaded Mucoadhesive Microspheres Prepared by Ionotropic Gelation Using Tinospora cordifolia and Sodium Alginate: A Statistical Optimization Study. Int J Drug Deliv Technol. 2026;16(2s): 185-191; DOI: 10.25258/ijddt.16.185-191