A Unique Approach to Treat Rheumatic Heart Disease by Using In Silico Modeling With Polymeric Nanoparticles

Abstract

Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) and its antecedent rheumatic fever (RF) is a serious health issue which targets mainly the elderly residing in developing countries. The main causative organism of RHD id group-A, β- hemolytic streptococci (GAS). It is basically an autoimmune disease triggered by GAS infection which damage the heart valve tissue, resulting in chest discomfort and pain. Both Diltiazem, a benzothiazepine class of voltage gated L-type Ca2+ channel blocker and Norfloxacin, a fluroquinolone class of drug, are active against hemolytic streptococci (GAS) class of pathogen. These drugs show no kind of drug interaction when used together. So, combination of both these to drugs can be used in the treatment of RHD. A polymeric nanoparticle formulation is very useful in formulating a combination of drugs, as, nano formulation increases the bioavailability of the drugs in systemic circulation, and they did not hinder each other’s absorption in the GIT. In this article we have developed and evaluated the polymeric nanoparticle formulation of norfloxacin and diltiazem combination, using chitosan as a polymer.