Novel Capra hircus-Based Miconazole Nitrate-Loaded Mucoadhesive Nanogels for Enhanced Treatment of Oral Candidiasis doi.org/10.26538/tjnpr/v5i2.28

Abstract

Natural products play a central role in organic chemistry and are good excipient sources for pharmaceutical formulations. The objective of this study was to formulate and evaluate Capra hircus-based miconazole nitrate (MN)-loaded mucoadhesive nanogels for improved delivery and enhanced antifungal activity in the treatment of oral candidiasis. The method of wet rendering was employed for the extraction of homolipid from Capra hircus. Lipid matrix consisting of 7:3 ratio of the Capra hircus homolipid and Phospholipon® 90G was then prepared by fusion method. MN-loaded nanoparticulate lipospheres were prepared at drug concentrations of 0, 0.25 and 0.5 %w/v by melt homogenization and thereafter characterized with respect to particle size, polydispersity index (PDI), entrapment efficiency (EE%) and drug loading (DL). The nanoparticulate formulations were transformed into nanogels by dispersion in Polycarbophil® and thereafter characterized in terms of drug content, rheology, mucoadhesion and compatibility by Fourier transform infra-red (FT-IR) spectroscopy. In vitro drug dissolution in simulated salivary fluid (SSF, pH 6.8) and antifungal activity were evaluated and compared with a marketed MN-loaded oral gel formulation. The nanoparticles with acceptable PDI values (0.08-0.7), EE% (48.69-65.21), DL (18.20-23.94) and average particle size (135.9-339.0 nm) were obtained. Capra hircus-based mucoadhesive nanogels exhibited good physicochemical properties with no strong chemical interaction between MN and the excipients used in the formulation, and gave significantly (p<0.05) greater drug release and anticandidal activity than marketed gel. Carpra hircus-based mucoadhesive nanogels can be used as an alternative sustained delivery system for MN in localized treatment of oral candidiasis.