Delivery and controlled release abilities of chitosan/carboxymethylcellulose micropolyelectrolyte complexes (PECs) toward niacinamide (vitamin B3).

The administration of bioactive compounds presents challenges due to the numerous physiological barriers in the gastrointestinal tract. To deal with one of these challenges, chitosan (CHS)/carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) micropolyelectrolyte complexes (micro-PECs) were developed without the use of crosslinking agents to carry niacinamide, a model hydrophilic bioactive agent. A Box-Behnken design was used to study the effects of processing time (X = 60, 120 or 180 min), pH (X = 3, 4 or 5) and niacinamide concentration (X = 0.