Nanoemulsion for Migraine Prophylaxis Nasal Drug Delivery: Preparation, Characterization and in vitro Evaluation

Background: Flunarizine dihydrochloride is used as a prophylaxis to migraine. Flunarizine dihydrochloride nanoemulsion was fabricated in this research work. Since, it is a low soluble high permeable drug, work was designed to enhance the solubility and the same can be administered as nasal drug delivery for faster onset of action and therapeutic effect. Objective: To fabricate a nanoemulsion of flunarizine dihydrochloride by using surfactant and co-surfactants. Methods: The experimental work involved compatibility studies by using FTIR, crystallinity study by XRD. The prepared nanoemulsion was studied by photon correlation spectroscopy by master sizer 2000 for the particle size analysis and characterized for D10, D50 and D90 MPS, span and uniformity. Further studies were conducted by Laser light scattering technique by delsa nano common and TEM. Results: The study demonstrated that the formulations (FNE 1 -FNE 5) demonstrated the MPS of 14, 22.7, 326.7, 14.3 and 40.73 respectively. The formulae FNE1 and FNE5 demonstrated the MPS of 214.6±179.9 and 2118.6 ±1503.6 with the diameter of 127.8 and 1307, respectively. The zeta potential of FNE1 was -3.84 mV and other parameters such as TEM and drug release studies were also reported. Conclusion: The nanoemulsion of Flunarizine dihydrochloride was prepared successfully by using cremophor and labrafil which was better than the existed formula prepared by tween 80. The optimised formula demonstrated lower droplet size, satisfactory zeta potential, and high drug loading reproducible drug release profile. Keywords: Flunarizine dihydrochloride, nanoemulsion, nasal delivery, TEM, zeta sizer, migraine prophylayis.