A stable hydrocortisone nanosuspension for improved dissolution: Preparation, characterization and in vitro evaluation

• Published in: Pakistan Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences
• Main Author: Ali H.S.M.; Khan S.; York P.; Shah S.M.; Khan J.; Hussain Z.; Khan B.A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Pakistan Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences 2017
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85027246425&partnerID=40&md5=ac6c0d54587988ff2f44d0d8f787e1d8

Drug nanosuspensions have gained tremendous attraction as a platform in drug delivery. In the present work, a nanosuspension was prepared by a wet milling approach in order to increase saturation solubility and dissolution of the water insoluble drug, hydrocortisone. Size of the generated particeles was 290 nm ± 9 nm having a zeta potential of -1.9 mV ± 0.6 mV. Nanosized particles were found to have a rod shape with a narrow particle size distribution (PDI =0.17). Results of differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray diffraction analyses revealed minor modifications of crystallinity of hydrocortisone following the milling process. Solubility of hydrocortisone was enhanced by nanonization to 875μg/ml ±2.5, an almost 2.9-fold compared to the raw hydrocortisone. Moreover, the nanosuspension formulation substabtially enhanced the dissolution rate of hydrocortisone where >97% of the hydrocortisone was dissolved within 10 minutes opposed to 22.3% for the raw 50% for the raw hydrocortisone and the commercial tablet, respectively. The bioavailability study resulted in AUC 0-9h for HC nanosuspensions (31.50±2.50), which is significantly (p<0.05) higher compared to the AUC 0-9h (14.85±3.25) resulted for HC solution. The nanosuspension was physically stable at room temperature for 24 months.