Synthesis of PEG-4000-co-poly (AMPS) nanogels by cross-linking polymerization as highly responsive networks for enhancement in meloxicam solubility

Abstract

Poor solubility is an ongoing issue and the graph of poorly soluble drugs has increased markedly which critically affect their dissolution, bioavailability, and clinical effects. This common issue needs to be addressed, for this purpose a series of polyethylene glycol (PEG-4000) based nanogels were developed by free radical polymerization technique to enhance the solubility, dissolution, and bioavailability of poorly soluble drug meloxicam (MLX), as improved solubility is the significant application of nanosystems. Developed nanogels formulations were characterized by FTIR, XRD, SEM, zeta sizer, percent equilibrium swelling, drug loaded content (DLC), drug entrapment efficiency (DEE), solubility studies, and in vitro dissolution studies. Furthermore, cytotoxicity studies were conducted in order to determine the bio-compatibility of the nanogels drug delivery system to biological environment. Nanogels particle size was found to be 156.19 ± 09.33 d.nm. Solubility study confirmed that the solubility of poorly soluble drug MLX was significantly enhanced up to 36 folds as compared to reference product (Mobic^®). The toxicity study conducted on rabbits and MTT assay endorsed the safety of the developed nanogels formulations to the biological system.

Keywords:

• Nanogels
• meloxicam
• solubility enhancement
• PEG-4000
• cytotoxicity evaluation

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by Faculty of Pharmacy and Alternative Medicine, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur (I.U.B).