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Research Article

PEGylated Tween 80-functionalized chitosan-lipidic nano-vesicular hybrids for heightening nose-to-brain delivery and bioavailability of metoclopramide

, , , , & ORCID Icon
Article: 2189112 | Received 19 Jan 2023, Accepted 05 Mar 2023, Published online: 14 Mar 2023
 

Abstract

A PEGylated Tween 80–functionalized chitosan–lipidic (PEG-T-Chito-Lip) nano-vesicular hybrid was developed for intranasal administration as an alternative delivery route to help improve the poor oral bioavailability of BCS class-III model/antiemetic (metoclopramide hydrochloride; MTC). The influence of varying levels of chitosan, cholesterol, PEG 600, and Tween 80 on the stability/release parameters of the formulated nanovesicles was optimized using Draper-Lin Design. Two optimized formulations (Opti-Max and Opti-Min) with both maximized and minimized MTC-release goals, were predicted, characterized, and proved their vesicular outline via light/electron microscopy, along with the mutual prompt/extended in-vitro release patterns. The dual-optimized MTC–loaded PEG-T-Chito-Lip nanovesicles were loaded in intranasal in-situ gel (ISG) and further underwent in-vivo pharmacokinetics/nose-to-brain delivery valuation on Sprague-Dawley rats. The absorption profiles in plasma (plasma-AUC0-∞) of the intranasal dual-optimized MTC–loaded nano-vesicular ISG formulation in pretreated rats were 2.95-fold and 1.64-fold more than rats pretreated with orally administered MTC and intranasally administered raw MTC-loaded ISG formulation, respectively. Interestingly, the brain-AUC0-∞ of the intranasal dual-optimized MTC–loaded ISG was 10 and 3 times more than brain-AUC0-∞ of the MTC-oral tablet and the intranasal raw MTC-loaded ISG, respectively. It was also revealed that the intranasal dual-optimized ISG significantly had the lowest liver-AUC0-∞ (862.19 ng.g−1.h−1) versus the MTC-oral tablet (5732.17 ng.g−1.h−1) and the intranasal raw MTC-loaded ISG (1799.69 ng.g−1.h−1). The brain/blood ratio profile for the intranasal dual-optimized ISG was significantly enhanced over all other MTC formulations (P < 0.05). Moreover, the 198.55% drug targeting efficiency, 75.26% nose-to-brain direct transport percentage, and 4.06 drug targeting index of the dual-optimized formulation were significantly higher than those of the raw MTC-loaded ISG formulation. The performance of the dual-optimized PEG-T-Chito-Lip nano-vesicular hybrids for intranasal administration evidenced MTC-improved bioavailability, circumvented hepatic metabolism, and enhanced brain targetability, with increased potentiality in heightening the convenience and compliance for patients.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethical approval

The in-vivo pharmacokinetic study was conducted according to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Research Ethics Committee of Faculty of Pharmacy Cairo University, Egypt (protocol serial number: PI 2763 valid from 26 September 2020). The utilization and handling of animals complied with the EU directive 2010/63/EU.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.