Encapsulation and dissolution study of bromelain in chitosan-methyl cellulose semi-IPN hydrogel

Bromelain is a proteolytic enzyme which has functions for anti-inflammatory, antiplatelet, anticancer, and as a drug for digestion problem. To achieve its function for drug digestion problem, bromelain is encapsulated in Chitosan-Methyl Cellulose semi-IPN hydrogel. There are three research questions for this research is it the encapsulation of bromelain in Hydrogel Chitosan-methyl Cellulose occur 100% complete? Is it the release complete in pH 7.4 as artificial intestine? Is it bromelain which is released in artificial intestine still have their activity as an enzyme? The hydrogel was made using the semi-IPN method with Chitosan-Methyl Cellulose 60:40(w/w), glutaraldehyde 0.1 M (2% w/w Chitosan) as a crosslinker, and a bromelain as a drug model. Encapsulation of bromelain was done with post loading and dissolution was done by simply putting encapsulated hydrogel in the shaker for 10 hours. FTIR and Optical Microscope are chosen as a characterization instrument. The result showed encapsulation achieved an average 97% and an average of dissolution 97%. The enzymatic activity bromelain decrease in an average of 57%.