Fabrication and in vitro characterization of delafloxacin-laden electrosprayed hydroxypropyl cellulose nanoparticulated solid dispersions for enhanced aqueous solubility and release rate of the drug

Abstract

With the aim of fabricating and characterizing an optimized drug delivery system (DDS) for an effective administration of poorly water-soluble delafloxacin (DFX) via the oral route, several formulations of delafloxacin-laden solid dispersions (SD) were prepared employing the solvent-evaporation and electrospraying techniques concomitantly. Solubility and release rate of the drug in the SD were assessed. Solid-state characterization was performed via the X-ray diffraction (PXRD) and differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) analyses, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic (FTIR) analysis. Amongst the prepared SD, an optimized formulation consisting of DFX, HPC, and SLS at the weight ratio of (1/8/0.2) showed about 9-fold higher solubility and 13-fold faster release rate of delafloxacin as compared to delafloxacin plain drug powder (DPDP). The drug existed in the amorphous form in the spherical particles and had no covalent interaction with any of the excipients. Thus, this optimized formulation might be a useful DDS for an effective administration of DFX.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Electrospraying
• delafloxacin
• hydroxypropyl cellulose
• nanoparticles
• solid dispersions
• solubility

Acknowledgement

No research funds were obtained from any source for this research work. The authors are obliged to Government College University Faisalabad and COMSATS University Lahore for providing all the research facilities.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.