Chitosan coated synergistically engineered nanoemulsion of Ropinirole and nigella oil in the management of Parkinson's disease: Formulation perspective and In vitro and In vivo assessment

The research presented aims at developing Ropinirole hydrochloride (RHCl) nanoemulsion (NE) with nigella oil for Parkinson's disease (PD). In silico study was done to explore interactions of ropinirole and thymoquinone at receptor site (TNF-α and NFK-β). Ropinirole and Thymoquinone forms a hydrogen bond with residue Arginine 201 and residue Arginine 253 with a bond length of 1.89 Å and 2.30 Å at the NF-κβ receptor. NE was optimized using Central Composite Rotatable Design (CCRD). The globule size of chitosan coated NE, Polydispersity index (PDI) and zeta potential were 183.7 ± 5.2 nm, 0.263 ± 0.005, and 24.9 mV respectively. NE exhibited 85.28% transmittance showing the formulation was clear and transparent. TEM showed that NE had spherical globules with no aggregation. The formulation had a stable pH value of 5.8 ± 0.18. In vitro release and permeation studies exhibited 2 folds and 3.4 folds enhancement when compared with the drug suspension. Neurobehavioral activity and biochemical parameters corroborated well with the pharmacokinetic results. Histopathological study and immunohistochemical analysis were performed to get better picture of 6-OHDA induced toxicity and reversal of PD symptoms. Thus, the NE tailored is a promising synergistic approach yielding enticing outcomes for better management of PD related symptoms.

Boosting the Brain Delivery of Atazanavir through Nanostructured Lipid Carrier-Based Approach for Mitigating NeuroAIDS

Atazanavir (ATZ) presents poor brain availability when administered orally, which poses a major hurdle in its use as an effective therapy for the management of NeuroAIDS. The utilization of nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) in conjunction with the premeditated use of excipients can be a potential approach for overcoming the limited ATZ brain delivery. Methods: ATZ-loaded NLC was formulated using the quality by design-enabled approach and further optimized by employing the Box–Behnken design. The optimized nanoformulation was then characterized for several in vitro and in vivo assessments. Results: The optimized NLC showed small particle size of 227.6 ± 5.4 nm, high entrapment efficiency (71.09% ± 5.84%) and high drug loading capacity (8.12% ± 2.7%). The release pattern was observed to be biphasic exhibiting fast release (60%) during the initial 2 h, then trailed by the sustained release. ATZ-NLC demonstrated a 2.36-fold increase in the cumulative drug permeated across the rat intestine as compared to suspension. Pharmacokinetic studies revealed 2.75-folds greater C_max in the brain and 4-fold improvement in brain bioavailability signifying the superiority of NLC formulation over drug suspension. Conclusion: Thus, NLC could be a promising avenue for encapsulating hydrophobic drugs and delivering it to their target site. The results suggested that increase in bioavailability and brain-targeted delivery by NLC, in all plausibility, help in improving the therapeutic prospects of atazanavir.