Development and Characterization of Acetazolamide Nanoemulsion for Effective Ocular Delivery

Abstract

Nanoemulsion has the potential of releasing the drug continuously, and they may easily permeate via the intense layers of the eye structure due to nano-size droplets, which makes nanoemulsion an effective drug delivery system for ocular delivery. The objective of our work was to prepare a nanoemulsion of acetazolamide for glaucoma treatment with enhanced efficacy as well as for continuous effect. Based on different compositions of oil (Olive Oil), surfactants (Tween-20), and co-surfactants (Transcutol P), forty-five test mixtures were made, water titration technique was employed for preparing the pseudo-ternary-phase diagrams. On the basis of these phase diagrams, twenty-five acetazolamide loaded nanoemulsion were formulated and examined for their nanosized droplets, PDI, zeta potential, viscosity, pH, transmittance and in-vitro drug release. The formulated nanoemulsion showed all the properties within the desired range i.e., droplet size (15.6 to 21.18), zeta potential (-15.5 to- 24.71), PDI (0.140 to 0.361), viscosity (3.234 ± 0.063to 5.174 ± 0.023cps), pH (6.922 ± 0.026to 7.033 ± 0.012), RI (1.379 ± 0.007 to 1.404 ± 0.006) and % transmittance was found (94.96± 0.6% to 96.68± 0.6%) and also the release rate of acetazolamide from nanoemulsion was found very good i.e., 81.59± 1.04% to 92.46± 0.33% after 24 hrs. The top four formulations having good drug release were selected for further evaluation of droplet sizes and which also fall in the nano range (15.68 to 21.18 nm). The study showed that it is possible to develop nanoemulsion of phenytoin drug, and the in-vitro drug release study showed that the prepared nanoemulsion had good bioavailability, sustained release and ability to target eye as an effective ocular delivery system.