Development and Characterization of Acetazolamide Nanoemulsion for Effective Ocular Delivery

Nanoemulsion  has the  potential  of  releasing  the  drug continuously,  and they may easily permeate  via the  intense layers of the eye structure  due to nano-size droplets, which makes nanoemulsion an effective drug delivery system for ocular delivery. The objective of our work was to prepare  a nanoemulsion of acetazolamide for glaucoma treatment  with enhanced efficacy as well as for  continuous  effect. Based on different  compositions  of  oil (Olive  Oil),  surfactants (Tween-20), and co- surfactants  (Transcutol  P), forty-five  test  mixtures  were  made, water  titration  technique  was employed for  preparing  the pseudo-ternary-phase  diagrams. On  the  basis of these  phase diagrams, twenty-five acetazolamide loaded nanoemulsion were formulated and examined for their nanosized droplets, PDI, zeta potential, viscosity, pH, transmittance  and in-vitro drug release. The formulated nanoemulsion showed all the properties within the desired range i.e., droplet size (15.6 to 21.18), zeta potential (-15.5 to- 24.71), PDI  (0.140 to 0.361), viscosity  (3.234 ± 0.063to 5.174 ± 0.023cps), pH (6.922 ± 0.026to 7.033 ± 0.012), RI (1.379 ± 0.007 to  1.404 ± 0.006) and % transmittance  was found (94.96± 0.6% to  96.68± 0.6%) and also  the release rate  of acetazolamide  from  nanoemulsion  was  found  very  good  i.e.,  81.59±  1.04%  to  92.46±  0.33% after  24  hrs.  The  top  four formulations having good drug release were selected for further evaluation of droplet sizes and which also fall in the nano range (15.68 to  21.18 nm). The study showed that  it  is possible  to  develop  nanoemulsion  of  phenytoin  drug, and the  in-vitro  drug release study showed  that the prepared  nanoemulsion had good bioavailability, sustained release and ability to target eye as an effective ocular delivery system.