Abstract
Objective: The aim of the present work is to prepare Mefenamic acid nanoparticles by Nanoprecipitation technique. Two different polymers were used namely Ethyl cellulose and Eudragit S-100 to study the effect of polymers on the release rate of the prepared formulation. The process parameters such as stirring rate, %surfactant (w/v), drug to polymer ratio and so forth were optimized.
Methods: Nanoprecipitation technique was employed in which drug and polymer were dissolved in an organic solvent and added drop wise to 0.4% (w/v) Poly Vinyl Alcohol aqueous solution under continuous magnetic stirring. After 5hrs, the solvent was removed by means of rotary evaporator to collect amorphous nanoparticles. For each polymer, total five formulations were prepared by varying the concentration of drug and polymer.
Results: The prepared nanoparticles were then characterized for drug-polymer interaction study, mean particle diameter, stability, and surface morphology and evaluated for drug content, entrapment efficiency, loading capacity, and in-vitro drug release. After evaluating the parameters the best formulation was found to be F3 formulation of ethyl cellulose with drug content of 94%, drug entrapment efficiency of 92.2%, loading capacity of 32.6%, mean particle diameter of 132.8nm and zeta potential value of -42.8mV. FTIR spectrum revealed no drug-polymer interaction and in-vitro drug release data showed 90.22% of drug release sustained up to 12hrs.
Conclusion: Ethyl cellulose was found to be the better polymer for the preparation of Mefenamic acid nanoparticles by Nanoprecipitation technique. Because of the mean particle diameter, excellent stability, higher drug entrapment efficiency and drug loading capacity.
Keywords: Mefenamic acid, nanoprecipitation, ethyl cellulose, eudragit S100, poly vinyl alcohol, entrapment efficiency, loading capacity, scanning electron microscope, particle size analyzer.
Graphical Abstract