Formulation development of novel in situ nanoemulgel (NEG) of ketoprofen for the treatment of periodontitis

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to formulate and evaluate in situ gelling syringeable nanoemulgels (NEGs) of ketoprofen for periodontal delivery. Application of 3-factor 3-level design was employed using the Box–Behnken experimental design for the optimization of nanoemulsion using three independent variables such as percent concentration (v/v) of oil (X₁), S_mix (mixture of surfactant and cosurfactant) (X₂) and water (X₃); while the particle size (nm) (Y₁), polydispersity index (Y₂) and zeta potential (mV) (Y₃) were used as dependent variables. The NEG was evaluated based on their drug content, pH measurement, mucoadhesion on the goat buccal mucosa, syringeability and inverted sol-gel transition temperature. The drug release data were analyzed for curve fitting based on the Korsmeyer–Peppas law, and the n-values of optimized A5 and A8 formulations were found 0.3721 and 0.3932, respectively, confirmed that both the formulations followed pseudo Fickian diffusion (n < 0.43). The formulation A8 with the optimal drug release was identified as the best NEG formulation. Results of rheological, mucoadhesion and syringeability studies showed the suitability of desired sol-gel property for periodontal drug delivery. The Herschel–Bulkley model was the best fit model to explain the flow behavior of optimized formulation. Using the HET-CAM method, significantly lower in vitro toxicity was indicated the suitability of developed NEG for intra-pocket delivery.

• Box–Behnken experimental design
• HET-CAM method, ketoprofen
• mucoadhesion
• nanoemulgel

Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to Council for Scientific and industrial Research (CSIR) New Delhi, India, file number (09/591 (0130)/2012), for providing Senior Research Fellowship. The authors are also thankful to Matrix Laboratories Ltd. Hyderabad, India, for providing the gift sample of the drug, All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) New Delhi, India, for TEM studies, and Central Instrumental Facility (CIF) Laboratory, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, India, to carry out the present research work. The authors are grateful to Gattefosse (France) for providing the gift samples of oils, surfactants and cosurfactants.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest.