Abstract

Amlodipine besylate microspheres for intranasal administration were prepared with an aim to avoid first-pass metabolism, to achieve controlled blood level profiles and to improve therapeutic efficacy. Hydroxypropyl Guar, a biodegradable polymer, was used in the preparation of microspheres by employing water in oil emulsification solvent evaporation technique. The formulation variables were drug concentration, emulsifier concentration, temperature, agitation speed and polymer concentration. All the formulations were evaluated for particle size, particle shape and surface morphology by scanning electron microscopy, percentage yield, drug entrapment efficiency, in vitro mucoadhesion test, degree of swelling and in vitro drug diffusion through sheep nasal mucosa. The microspheres obtained were free flowing, spherical and the particles ranged in size from 13.4±2.38 μm to 43.4±1.92 μm very much suitable for nasal delivery. Increasing polymer concentration resulted in increased drug entrapment efficiency and increased particle size. Amlodipine besylate was entrapped into the microspheres with an efficiency of 67.2±1.18 % to 81.8±0.64 %. The prepared microspheres showed good mucoadhesion properties, swellability and sustained the release of the drug over a period of 8 h. The data obtained were analysed by fitment into various kinetic models; it was observed that the drug release was matrix diffusion controlled and the release mechanism was found to be non- Fickian. Stability studies were carried out on selected formulations at 5±3°, 25±2°/60±5% RH and 40±2°/75±5% RH for 90 days. The drug content was observed to be within permissible limits and there were no significant deviations in the in vitro mucoadhesion and in vitro drug diffusion characteristics.