Development of aqueous ternary nanomatrix films: A novel ‘green’ strategy for the delivery of poorly soluble drugs
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Date
2016
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
International Journal of Pharmaceutics (Elsevier)
Abstract
Aqueous polymeric films have potentially great values in drug development, particularly in controlled drug release and taste masking strategies. However, the progressive polymer-particle coalescence that occurs randomly during film formation, curing and storage may render the film less permeable leading to erratic and unpredictable drug release profile. The focus of this study was to investigate the impacts of the in situ formation of polymer-drug nanoconjugate, at the interfacial nano-domains of two oppositely charged polymers, on the mechanism of film formation and to prepare aqueous ternary polymer-drug polymer nanomatrix films as a novel green strategy for the delivery of ibuprofen, a model poorly soluble drug. Composite and Layer-by-Layer films were prepared by aqueous casting technique using the concept of combined polymer-drug self-assembly and polyelectrolyte complexation. The plain and drug-loaded nanomatrix films were characterized using SEM, AFM, FTIR, DSC and TGA. Ibuprofen formed spherical core-shell microstructures (4.55 – 9.73 mm) in gellan film. However, in the presence of cationic dextran (Ddex), nanoconjugates (61.49 ± 5.97 – 447.52 ± 37.51 nm) were formed within the core of the film matrix. The composite films exhibited reduced tensile strength and lower elastic modulus with optimal conjugation efficiency of 98.14 ± 1.19%, which correlates with higher dissolution efficiency (99.76%) compared to 47.37% in layer-by-layer (LbL) films, dictated by Ddex concentration. Generally, the mechanism of drug release was by Fickian diffusion, however anomalous transport or polymer relaxation was also observed at higher concentration of Ddex. This study demonstrated the potential application of aqueous drug-loaded nanomatrix films as controlled drug delivery strategy for ibuprofen, a model poorly soluble drug
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Keywords
Aqueous nanomatrix film, Controlled polymeric self-assembly, Tuneable polymeric nanodomain, Ternary nanoconjugate, Green strategy for drug delivery, Mechanism of drug release