Development of Nitazoxanide Loaded Polymeric Nanocarriers: Box Behnken Experimental Design Based Optimisation and Characterisation

The current investigation is focused on formulation, optimisation and characterisation of polymeric based nanomaterial. Nitazoxanide (NTZ) loaded polymeric nanoparticles were prepared by homogenisation technique using Eudragit RL100 as a polymer matrix and Poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) as a cross linking agent. NTZ was used as a model drug and investigated for preformulation parameters along with excipients, identification of concentration for optimization, selection of independent (X) and dependent (Y) variables and characterisation of optimised formulation. Polymeric nanoparticles were obtained after optimization using 33 factorial design by Box Behnken Design expert (BBD). The role and influence of key process variables i.e. concentration of polymer, concentration of cross linking agent and speed of rotation of homogeniser at their respective three different levels for the optimisation of formulation were also investigated. The synthesised optimised polymeric nanoparticles were further characterised by dynamic light scattering (DLS) for its particle size (137.11nm), PDI (0.180) and zeta potential (33.4 mV) while X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used to justify the amorphous and crystalline nature of drug and excipients. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) further revealed surface geometry of these nanoparticles being spherical in shape, drug entrapment efficiency (%DEE) was found to be 81.89% and in vitro release studies showed sustained drug release effect. The antimicrobial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus mutans and Escherichia coli was also determined.