Triamcinolone-loaded glutaraldehyde cross-linked chitosan microspheres: prolonged release approach for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.

The use of glucocorticoids in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis has been widely employed, but, owing to their systemic side-effects and also their susceptibility to the first pass metabolism, their use is being discouraged. To circumvent this, triamcinolone (TA) were encapsulated in chitosan microspheres with glutaraldehyde as the cross-linking agent to achieve a prolonged drug release. The percentage of drug loading, encapsulation efficiency, and surface morphology by Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Phase transition by Differential scanning colorimetry (DSC), as well as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) studies was carried out to characterize the chitosan microspheres.