Computational quality-by-design strategy to validate high-performance liquid chromatography method for the estimation of meloxicam in bulk dosage forms and milk samples.

Bovine clinical mastitis has significant repercussions for farmers across the globe. Meloxicam, a COX-2 inhibitor, attenuates mastitis symptoms and is also approved for veterinary use. An RP-HPLC (Reverse Phase-High Performance Liquid Chromatography) method development and validation is essential in the pharmaceutical industry to assess API (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient) quantity present in the pharmaceutical dosage forms. RP-HPLC method of meloxicam was developed and optimized with the aid of QbD (Quality by Design) using Box-Behnken design (BBD). The pH of the aqueous mobile phase, acetonitrile (ACN) percentage, and column temperature were chosen as influence variables, and retention time (RT) and tailing factor (Tf) were selected as response variables. The optimum experimental conditions were selected as pH ~ 3 of the aqueous mobile phase, 65% v/v ACN, and 30˚C as column temperature. The drug was eluted at 6.02 min RT with 1.18 as Tf. The method was subjected to validation for accuracy, linearity, precision, range, sensitivity, and robustness and was found to comply with ICH Q2 (R1) guidelines. The in vitro bioequivalent studies were performed in hydrochloric acid, pH ~ 1.2; acetate buffer, pH ~ 4.5; and phosphate buffer, pH ~ 6.8 for two veterinary brands of meloxicam tablets, and their release profiles were compared by mathematical models. Both the brands, brand 1 and 2 exhibited significant (Unpaired t-test, P < 0.05) differences in dissolution efficiency (DE) and mean dissolution time (MDT) except DE at pH 1.2. However, brands 1 and 2 showed similarity (f2 > 50) in terms of release of meloxicam except at pH 6.8 (f2 = 47.01). The in vitro release of meloxicam followed Peppas kinetics except for brand 2 at pH 6.8, where it followed the Higuchi model. Moreover, the recovery of meloxicam extracted with ACN in the milk sample was estimated to be 99.67 ± 0.58% significantly (Unpaired t-test, P < 0.05) higher than 90.34 ± 6.77% extracted with methanol. In conclusion, the optimized and validated RP-HPLC method of meloxicam may further be used for the analysis of drug content in pharmaceutical dosage forms in addition to biological fluids.

Naringenin-Capped Silver Nanoparticles Amalgamated Gel for the Treatment of Cutaneous Candidiasis.

The current research was aimed to synthesize a phytomolecule, naringenin (NRG)-mediated silver nanoparticles (NRG-SNPs) to study their antifungal potential against Candida albicans (C. albicans) and Candida glabrata (C. glabrata). The NRG-SNPs were synthesized by using NRG as a reducing agent. The synthesis of NRG-SNPs was confirmed by a color change and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) peak at 425 nm. Furthermore, the NRG-SNPs were analyzed for size, PDI, and zeta potential, which were found to be 35 ± 0.21 nm, 0.19 ± 0.03, and 17.73 ± 0.92 mV, respectively. In silico results demonstrated that NRG had a strong affinity towards the sterol 14α-demethylase. The docking with ceramide revealed the skin permeation efficiency of the NRG-SNPs. Next, the NRG-SNPs were loaded into the topical dermal dosage form (NRG-SNPs-TDDF) by formulating a gel using Carbopol Ultrez 10 NF. The MIC50 of NRG solution and TSC-SNPs against C. albicans was found to be 50 µg/mL and 4.8 µg/mL, respectively, significantly (P < 0.05) higher than 0.3625 µg/mL of NRG-SNPs-TDDF. Correspondingly, MIC50 results were calculated against C. glabrata and the results of NRG, TSC-SNPs, NRG-SNPs-TDDF, and miconazole nitrate were found to be 50 µg/mL, 9.6 µg/mL, 0.3625 µg/mL, and 3-µg/mL, respectively. Interestingly, MIC50 of NRG-SNPs-TDDF was significantly (P < 0.05) lower than MIC50 of miconazole nitrate against C. glabrata. The FICI (fractional inhibitory concentration index) value against both the C. albicans and C. glabrata was found to be 0.016 and 0.011, respectively, which indicated the synergistic antifungal activity of NRG-SNPs-TDDF. Thus, NRG-SNPs-TDDF warrants further in depth in vivo study under a set of stringent parameters for translating in to a clinically viable antifungal product.