Iron deficiency is one of the most prominent mineral deficiencies around the world, which especially affects large population of women and children. Development of new technologies to combat iron deficiency is on high demand. Therefore, we developed alginate microcapsule with encapsulated iron that had better oral iron bioavailability. Microcapsules containing iron with varying ratios of sodium alginate ferric(III)-saccharide were prepared using emulsification method. In vitro studies with Caco-2 cells suggested that newly synthesized microemulsions had better iron bioavailability as compared to commercially available iron dextran formulations. Ferrozine in vitro assay showed that alginate-encapsulated ferric galactose microemulsion (AFGM) had highest iron bioavailability in comparison to other four ferric saccharate microemulsions, namely AFGlM, AFMM, AFSM, and AFFM synthesized in our laboratory. Mice studies also suggested that AFGM showed higher iron absorption as indicated by increased serum iron, hemoglobin, and other hematopoietic measures with almost no toxicity at tested doses. Development of iron-loaded microemulsions leads to higher bioavailability of iron and can provide alternative strategies to treat iron deficiency.
Keywords: Anemia; Bioavailability; Emulsification; Iron saccharate complex; Microemulsions; Sodium alginate.