ABSTRACT This study was to investigate the neuroprotective effect of curcumin against inflammation-mediated dopaminergic neurodegeneration in 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) mice model of Parkinson's disease (PD). Curcumin loaded sodium hyaluronate based mucoadhesive microemulsion (CMME) was developed by using Box Behnken design of Response surface method (RSM) and was characterized. Male C57BL/6 mice were first treated with four intraperitoneal injections of MPTP (20 mg/kg of body weight) at 2 h intervals followed CMME intranasal administration for 14 days at 2.86 mg of curcumin/kg of body weight per once a day. Optimal CMME containing 3% Capmul MCM as oil phase, 37 % of Accenon CC and Transcutol HP at 2.5:1 ratio and 0.5% sodium hyaluronate was stable, non-ciliotoxic with 57.66 nm±3.46 as average globule size. PdI value (0.190 ± 0.19) and TEM result depicted the narrow size distribution of CMME.All three independent variables had a significant effect (p<0.05) on the responses and the designed model was significant for all taken responses. In-vivo results revealed significant reduction of MPTP-mediated dopamine depletion after nasal administration of CMME. MPTP intoxication significantly decreased striatal DA content to 21.29 % which was then elevated to 55.37% after intranasal curcumin treatment. Significant improvement in motor performance as well as gross behavioural activity of mice was observed from rota-rod and open field test findings. Findings of the investigation revealed the symptomatic neuroprotection of curcumin against MPTP-induced neurodegradation in the striatum and hence could be considered as a promising approach to treat PD.

The present study was performed to design and evaluate the famotidine loaded mucoadhesive nanosuspension for aspirin induced ulcer. A 3-factor, 3-level Box-Behnken design was applied to study the effects of amount of the beads (X1), PVPK-30(X2) and Tween-80 (X3) on the particle size (Y1), and cumulative percentage drug released after 1h (Y2). The optimization was performed using the desirability function and contour plots. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed the nanoparticles as spherical in shape. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis indicated that there was substantial crystallinity change in the nanoparticle compared with the pure drug. Ex-vivo mucoadhesion study showed that famotidine mucoadhesive nanoparticles possessed higher mucoadhesion than the famotidine nanoparticles. The in vivo studies on aspirin-induced rats indicated the lowering in ulcer index for famotidine mucoadhesive nanoparticles was 0.46+0.011, which was significantly better than the effect of traditional famotidine suspension (0.66+0.035). Famotidine mucoadhesive nanosuspension could be prepared using the media milling technique and allowing significant reduction in ulcer index compared to famotidine suspension.

The purpose of this study was formulation and in vitro evaluation of floating-bioadhesive tablets to lengthen the stay of glipizide in its absorption area. Effervescent tablets were made using chitosan (CH), hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC), carbopolP934 (CP), polymethacrylic acid (PMA), citric acid, and sodium bicarbonate. Tablets with 5% effervescent base had longer lag time than 10%. The type of polymer had no significant effect on the floating lag time. All tablets floated atop the medium for 23-24 hr. Increasing carbopolP934 caused higher bioadhesion than chitosan (p < 0.05). All formulations showed a Higuchi, non-Fickian release mechanism. Tablets with 10% effervescent base, 80% CH/20% HPMC, or 80% CP/20% PMA seemed desirable.