Immobilization of hormones for drug targeting

Biological active compounds such as insulin, heparin, progesterone and labeled-LH were entrapped in glutaraldehyde cross-linked bovine serum albumin (BSA) and human serum albumin (HAS) microspheres. Studies were carried out for their binding capacity and biodegradability using new proteolytic enzymes. Effects of proteolytic enzymes such as trypsin, chymotrypsin, papain and pronase-E on microspheres were studied in order to understand the biodegradability of the cross-linked proteins. It has been observed that labeled-LG was entrapped 60% in BSA and HAS microspheres. Labelled-LH-BSA, Labelled-LH-HAS and insulin microspheres were injected into mice and rabbits. It was observed that these cross-linked microspheres were biodegradable and the process appeared to be slow one, useful for sustained release of hormones. It was also observed that these albumin microspheres exhibit fluorescence at 495 nm.