Exploiting Apical Sodium-Dependent Bile Acid Transporter (ASBT)-Mediated Endocytosis with Multi-Functional...

Oral administration of insulin is a potential candidate for managing diabetes. However, it is obstructed by the gastrointestinal tract barriers resulting in negligible oral bioavailability.

This investigation presents a novel nanocarrier platform designed to address these challenges. In this regard, the process involved amination of sodium alginate by ethylene diamine, followed by its conjugation with deoxycholic acid.

The resulting DCA@Alg@INS nanocarrier revealed a significantly high insulin loading content of 63.6 ± 1.03% and encapsulation efficiency of 87.6 ± 3.84%, with a particle size of 206 nm and zeta potentials of -3 mV. In vitro studies showed sustained and pH-dependent release profiles of insulin from nanoparticles. In vitro cellular studies, confocal laser scanning microscopy and flow cytometry analysis confirmed the successful attachment and internalization of DCA@Alg@INS nanoparticles in Caco-2 cells. Furthermore, the DCA@Alg@INS demonstrated a superior capacity for cellular uptake and permeability coefficient relative to the insulin solution, exhibiting sixfold and 4.94-fold enhancement, respectively. According to the uptake mechanism studies, the results indicated that DCA@Alg@INS was mostly transported through an energy-dependent active pathway since the uptake of DCA@Alg@INS by cells was significantly reduced in the presence of NaN₃ by ~ 92% and at a low temperature of 4°C by ~ 94%.

Given the significance of administering insulin through oral route, deoxycholic acid-modified alginate nanoparticles present a viable option to surmount various obstacles presented by the gastrointestinal.