Department of Pharmaceutics and Industrial Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Cairo 11562, Egypt.
Department of Chemistry, School of Sciences and Engineering, The American University in Cairo (AUC), AUC Avenue, P.O. Box 74, New Cairo 11835, Egypt.
Int J Pharm. 2024 Jul 20;660:124230. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpharm.2024.124230. Epub 2024 May 22.
Nanofibers (NFs) have proven to be very attractive tool as drug delivery plateform among the different plethora of nanosystems, owing to their unique features. They exhibit two- and three-dimensional structures some of which mimic structural environment of the body tissues, in addition to being safe, efficacious, and biocompatible drug delivery platform. Thus, this study embarked on fabricating polyvinyl alcohol/chitosan (PVA/CS) electrospun NFs encapsulating zopiclone (ZP) drug for intranasal brain targeted drug delivery. Electrospun NFs were optimized by adopting a three factor-two level full factorial design. The independent variables were: PVA/CS ratio (X), flow rate (X), and applied voltage (X). The measured responses were: fiber diameter (Y,nm), pore size (Y,nm) and ultimate tensile strength (UTS,Y,MPa). The selected optimum formula had resulted in NFs diameter of 215.90 ± 15.46 nm, pore size 7.12 ± 0.27 nm, and tensile strength around 6.64 ± 0.95 MPa. In-vitro biodegradability testing confirmed proper degradation of the NFs within 8 h. Moreover, swellability and breathability assessment revealed good hydrophilicity and permeability of the prepared NFs. Ex-vivo permeability study declared boosted ex-vivo permeation with an enhancement factor of 2.73 compared to ZP suspension. In addition, optimized NFs formula significantly reduced sleep latency and prolonged sleep duration in rats compared to IV ZP drug solution. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of employing the designed NFs as an effective safe platform for intranasal delivery of ZP for insomnia management.
纳米纤维(NFs)已被证明是一种非常有吸引力的药物输送平台,在众多纳米系统中脱颖而出,这要归功于它们独特的特性。它们具有二维和三维结构,其中一些结构模拟了身体组织的结构环境,同时还具有安全、有效和生物相容性的药物输送平台的特点。因此,本研究着手制备聚乙烯醇/壳聚糖(PVA/CS)电纺纳米纤维,将佐匹克隆(ZP)药物包裹其中,用于经鼻腔脑靶向药物输送。通过采用三因素两水平完全析因设计来优化电纺纳米纤维。独立变量为:PVA/CS 比(X)、流速(X)和施加电压(X)。测量的响应为:纤维直径(Y,nm)、孔径(Y,nm)和极限拉伸强度(UTS,Y,MPa)。所选的最佳配方得到的纳米纤维直径为 215.90±15.46nm,孔径为 7.12±0.27nm,拉伸强度约为 6.64±0.95MPa。体外生物降解性测试证实了纳米纤维在 8 小时内的适当降解。此外,溶胀性和透气性评估显示出所制备的纳米纤维具有良好的亲水性和渗透性。离体渗透研究表明,与 ZP 混悬剂相比,ZP 经鼻腔给药的离体渗透得到了显著增强,增强因子为 2.73。此外,与 IV ZP 药物溶液相比,优化后的纳米纤维配方显著降低了大鼠的睡眠潜伏期并延长了睡眠时间。这些发现表明,所设计的纳米纤维作为一种有效的安全平台,可用于经鼻腔输送 ZP 治疗失眠症。