Effect of Both Lovastatin and Ginsenoside Rb1 on Some Properties and In-Vitro Drug Release of Alginate/Chitosan/Lovastatin/Ginsenoside Rb1 Composite Films

This article reports the interactions between lovastatin—a drug for treatment of reducing cholesterol and ginsenoside Rb1—a active substance extracted from Panax ginseng as model drugs loaded by alginate/chitosan blend. The polymer composite films based on chitosan (CS), alginate (AG), lovastatin (Lov) and ginsenoside Rb1 were prepared by solution method with the ratio of AG/CS fixed at 4/1, the content of Rb1 fixed at 5 wt% and content of Lov changed from 5 to 20 wt% in comparison with the weight of CS and AG. The morphology, structure and thermal behavior of alginate/chitosan blend loading both lovastatin and ginsenoside Rb1 were investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and differential scanning calorimetry methods. Besides, the in-vitro drug release study of lovastatin and ginsenoside Rb1 from AG/CS blend was carried out in different pH buffer solutions for 32 h. The ultraviolet–visible spectra showed two adsorbed peaks corresponding to the optical adsorption of lovastatin and ginsenoside Rb1. The data of drug release content confirmed that lovastatin and ginsenoside Rb1 could affect to each other on drug release from the composite films. The drug release kinetics of lovastatin and ginsenoside Rb1 from the composite films in different pH buffer solutions were also determined to evaluate the interactions between lovastatin and ginsenoside Rb1 fully.