Microwave thermal denaturation of protein matrices as controlled release devices

Abstract Previous studies have demonstrated that albuminoid protein extracted from soy bean can be compacted into matrices under the influence of moisture and pressure. These matrices release a water-soluble drug, quinacrine dihydrochloride, in accordance with disintegrating and eroding surface models during dissolution. However, when the freshly compacted tablets are exposed to various levels of water vapor and progressively heated by microwave irradiation, non-eroding matrices are slowly formed that release the drug by a different, diffusion-controlled, mechanism. The transition from one mechanism to the other is a function of length of time of microwave irradiation (at a fixed energy level) and the equilibrium moisture content.