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Malaria is one of the major public health problems in the developing countries. Numbers of drugs are available for the treatment of malaria but chloroquine diphosphate still remains a drug of choice. The aim of this study is to develop and characterize a suitable drug delivery system of antimalarial drug for prophylactic use. A depot system for controlled release of antimalarial drug was prepared. Drug loaded heat cross-linked gelatin microspheres were prepared by single emulsion thermal gelation technique. These were characterized by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), percentage yield (63.20% to 86.13%), drug content (22.95% to 28.02%), encapsulation efficiency (41.46% to 68.26%), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and in vitro studies. Sizes of the microspheres as observed by optical microscopy were in the range of 44.06 ± 6.98 μm to 54.70 ± 8.19 μm, DSC pattern showed the absence of drug and polymer interaction. The gelatin microspheres were below 60 μm and spherical in shape as evidenced by the SEM photographs. Encapsulated chloroquine diphosphate was released slowly for 24 ± 1 hrs. The study indicated optimum drug release behavior (84.5% ± 0.96) in 25 hrs.

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