Curcumin loaded mesoporous silica nanoparticles: assessment of bioavailability and cardioprotective effect.

Rhizomes of the plant Curcuma longa has been traditionally used in medicine and culinary practices in India. It possesses various pharmacological effect, namely, antioxidant, hepatoprotective, anti-inflammatory, anti-thrombosis, and anti-apoptotic. The study was undertaken to assess the effect of curcumin and curcumin loaded mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) against doxorubicin (DOX)-induced myocardial toxicity in rats. Furthermore, the study also included the bioavailability estimation of curcumin delivered alone and delivered via mesoporous technology. Cardiotoxicity was produced by cumulative administration of DOX (2.5 mg/kg for two weeks). Curcumin and curcumin loaded mesoporous nanoparticles (MSNs) each 200 mg/kg, po was administered as pretreatment for two weeks and then for two alternate weeks with DOX. The repeated administration of DOX induced cardiomyopathy associated with an antioxidant deficit and increased level of cardiotoxic biomarkers. Pretreatment with curcumin (alone and via MSNs) significantly protected myocardium from the toxic effects of DOX by significantly decreased the elevated level of malondialdehyde and increased the reduced level of reduced glutathione (GSH), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) in cardiac tissue. MSNs based delivery was found superior compared to curcumin delivered alone. Moreover, the results of bioavailability assessment in rats clearly indicated higher Cmax and AUC values in rats when curcumin was administered via MSNs indicating superior bioavailability. The bioavailability of curcumin loaded MSNs, biochemical and histopathology reports support the good cardioprotective effect of curcumin which could be attributed to its increased bioavaibility lead to good antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity.

Preclinical evaluation of drug in adhesive type ondansetron loaded transdermal therapeutic systems.

The in vivo assessment of percutaneous absorption of molecules is a very important step in the evaluation of any transdermal drug delivery system and a key goal in the design and optimization of transdermal dosage forms lies in understanding the factors that determine a good in vivo performance. The objective of the present investigation is to assess the in vivo performance of an optimized transdermal system of ondansetron hydrochloride in rabbits and to generate preclinical pharmacokinetic data. The pharmacokinetic performance of ondansetron hydrochloride following intravenous and transdermal administration was studied in rabbits following non compartmental pharmacokinetic analysis. The pharmacokinetic parameters such as area under the curve, elimination rate constant, elimination half life and mean residence time, were significantly (P < 0.01) different following transdermal administration compared to intravenous administration. Absolute bioavailability of the transdermal film studied was estimated to be 0.37 ± 0.06 which is quite low because a very high drug loading in the transdermal system was essential to achieve sufficient thermodynamic activity for transdermal permeation. Though in vivo studies in rabbits are found promising, investigations in healthy human subjects are essential to confirm the performance of the developed transdermal films.