A similar study was conducted by Ahmad et al. (2014) who fabricated stimuli-responsivehydrogel BC-PAA nanocomposites for oral delivery of proteins. When assessed for BSA release,the cumulative release was less than 10% in SGF. This demonstrated the potential of BC-PAA forprotecting BSA from the harsh acidic environment of the stomach. Upon conformational stabilityanalyses by an esterase activity assay, circular dichroism, and sodium dodecyl sulphatepolyacrylamide gel electrophoresis; the structural integrity and bioactivity of BSA was preserved 42and maintained by the hydrogels as shown in Fig. 6 Furthermore, ex vivo permeation experimentsdemonstrated an increase in BSA penetration across the intestinal mucosa. The BC-PAA showedoutstanding cytocompatibility with no signs of toxicity (Ahmad, Amin, Mahali, Ismail & Chuang,2014).