Development and Characterization of Self-Nano Emulsifying Drug Delivery System of Ibuprofen

Aim: This work aimed to formulate self-nano emulsifying drug delivery systems (SNEDDS) for augmenting the biopharmaceutical performance of ibuprofen, a poorly-water soluble drug and subsequently evaluate its anti-inflammatory activity.

Methodology: Pseudoternary phase diagram studies facilitated selection of caprylic/capric glycerides as the oily phase, cremophor EL as surfactants, and polyethylene glycol-400 as the cosurfactant for formulating the SNEDDS. A stable combinations from the phase diagram consisting of 27% caprylic/capric glycerides, 58% cremophor EL and 15% polyethylene glycol-400 was loaded with ibuprofen and characterized with respect to globule size, polydispersity index (PDI), stability, emulsification time, % drug loading efficiency (DLE), in vitro drug release, infinite aqueous dilution, post-dilution drug precipitation and in vivo anti-inflammatory tests.

Results: The optimized ibuprofen SNEDDS (ibu-SNEDDS) had a mean globule size of 25.23nm, PDI of 0.093, showed excellent emulsification time of 5.0 s, released > 94% of the drug within 15 min while the pure drug showed only 8.8% drug release over a period of 1 h, exhibited no phase separation and demonstrated significantly (P < 0.05) higher anti-inflammatory effect than the reference drug.

Conclusion: Our study illustrated the potential use of SNEDDS as a promising nano drug carrier for the efficient delivery of ibuprofen that may solve the low bioavailability, high intra- and intersubject variability frequently associated with the oral delivery of the drug.