Locust bean gum in the development of sustained release mucoadhesive macromolecules of aceclofenac

•Sustained release mucoadhesive macromolecules of aceclofenac were developed.•Locust bean gum (mucoadhesive agent), sodium alginate (release retardant) were utilized.•Variables affected on macromolecules were optimized using 32 factorial design.•These macromolecules showed pH-sensitive swelling, good mucoadhesive property.•The in vitro drug release followed first-order with super case-II transport mechanism. The study shows the development and optimization of locust bean gum (LBG)–alginate mucoadhesive macromolecules containing aceclofenac through ionotropic-gelation using 32 factorial design. The effect of amount of LBG and sodium alginate on drug entrapment efficiency (%DEE), % mucoadhesion at 8h (M8) and % in vitro drug release at 10h (%Q10h) were optimized. The percentage yield, average size and DEE of macromolecules were found within the range of 93.19 to 96.65%, 1.328±0.11 to 1.428±0.13μm, and 56.37 to 68.54%, respectively. The macromolecules were also characterized by SEM, FTIR and DSC. The in vitro drug release from these macromolecules (84.95±2.02 to 95.33±1.56% at 10h) exhibited sustained release (first-order) pattern with super case-II transport mechanism. The swelling and mucoadhesivity of these macromolecules were affected by pH of the medium. The design established the role of derived polynomial equations and plots in predicting the values of dependent variables for the preparation and optimization.