Page 348 - AWSAR 2.0

324 || AWSAR Awarded Popular Science Stories - 2019
barrier’ thus enhancing the activity of the drug and reducing side effects, state the researchers. The principal investigator of this project, Dr Usha Y. Nayak says that “loading of risperidone into nanocarrier
liposomes and delivering via intranasal route will help in effectively transporting the drug to the brain”. Hence, we explored the potential use of both liposomes and intranasal delivery route to effectively deliver the drug, risperidone.
Our team studied the effects
of different concentrations of
lipids on the size and loading of
risperidone into the liposomes.
We adopted the design of
experiments (DoE) approach
to arrive at the most robust
liposome formulation. This
helped us reduce the number
of experiments to be run, thus
saving time and reducing the
cost without compromising on
the quality of the end product. This approach is often preferred in the pharmaceutical industry, which suggests the reliability of the process and product developed.
Thorough characterization of the developed formulation was performed using sophisticated instruments such as Malvern Zetasizer to determine the particle size, transmission electron microscopy to view the particle surface and dissolution testing to determine the amount of drug released from
the carrier.
To confirm the relatively higher
accumulation of drug in the brain as compared to blood, we further went on to study the distribution of the drug loaded liposomes in Wistar rats when given via intranasal route versus intravenous route. Literature reveals certain similarity between the blood brain barrier of rats and humans and are well established to study the same. The study revealed interesting results with the formulation developed by us showing higher amount of exposure in brain as compared to that in the blood. The formulation was found to have longer residence
time in the brain.
The work provides
an evidence of the probable use of risperidone liposomes administered through intranasal route as an alternative to
the currently available oral and intravenous injections. This may reduce the side-effects due to higher dose of the drug and also be a boon to the patients suffering from schizophrenia. However, studies in humans will add more reliability to the data, which if proven can be a breakthrough in addressing the current treatment drawbacks. If successful, the formulation will be a boon to both patients and the caregivers.
Our team studied the effects of different concentrations of lipids on the size and loading of risperidone into the liposomes. We adopted the design of experiments (DoE) approach to arrive at the most robust liposome formulation. This helped us reduce the number of experiments to be run, thus saving time and reducing the cost without compromising on the quality of the end product.