Abstract
Aim: The manuscript describes the performance of nanoparticles loaded with antidepressant drug for nose-to-brain drug delivery. Materials & methods: Poly-lactic-co-glycolic acid-loaded nanoparticles of agomelatine were prepared by nanoprecipitation method using poloxamer 407 as stabilizer. The process parameters were optimized using factorial design. Results: The drug-loaded nanoparticles having low particle size (<200 nm) with narrow size distribution and required zeta potential (-22.7 mV) to avoid aggregation showed sustained release profile and were found to have higher permeability as observed from ex vivo studies when compared with plain drug suspension. Histopathology test showed that the optimized formulation was free from nasal toxicity on the goat nasal mucosa. Pharmacodynamic study showed significant reduction in immobility time in rats treated with the formulation which indicated antidepressant activity of the formulation. Conclusion: The prepared agomelatin-loaded poly-lactic-co-glycolic acid nanoparticles showed prominent antidepressant activity by nose-to-brain delivery as observed from various studies.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Corbion Purac Biomaterials, The Netherlands for providing gift sample of PLGA and Alembic Research Centre for providing gift sample of the drug.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.