The aim of this research was to evaluate the potential of two chitosan (CS)-based hydrogel systems for nasal delivery of exenatide (EXT) in rats. Both of the EXT-loaded CS/glycerophosphate (GP)/CaCl2 (EXT/CS/GP/CaCl2) and EXT/CS/GP/MgCl2 hydrogel systems had similar in vitro release profiles. However, a difference in metal salt surprisingly resulted in multifaceted differences between the two hydrogel systems, such as EXT stability, gelation time, transepithelial transport, biodistribution and pharmacokinetics. The gelation time of the EXT/CS/GP/MgCl2 hydrogel (more than 110 min) at 37 °C was much longer than that of the EXT/CS/GP/CaCl2 hydrogel (8.0-20.4 min). Transepithelial transport analysis showed that the CS/GP/MgCl2 hydrogel enhanced EXT transport across the Calu-3 cell monolayers more than the CS/GP/CaCl2 hydrogel (P < 0.05). After nasal administration in the rats, the EXT/CS/GP/MgCl2 hydrogel increased the distribution of EXT in the targeting organs and the relative bioavailability of EXT in the rats more than the EXT/CS/GP/CaCl2 hydrogel. Moreover, both EXT/CS/GP/salt hydrogel formulation treatments in high-fat-fed rats significantly decreased food intake and body weight relative to the EXT solution within ten days (P < 0.05). The aforementioned results suggest that the EXT/CS/GP/MgCl2 hydrogel formulation is more suitable to be used as a nasally delivered EXT formulation for the treatment of weight loss.
Keywords: Chitosan; Exenatide; Hydrogel; Magnesium chloride; Nasal delivery; Weight loss.
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