FORMULATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF NIMODIPINE NANOEMULSION AS AMPOULE FOR ORAL ROUTE

The aim of this study was to develop oil in water nanoemulsion of nimodipine intended for oral use. Nimodipine is a calcium channel blocker that has poor oral bioavailability (3-30%) due to its low solubility and first- pass metabolism. So, nanoemulsion of nimodipine increase its solubility and enhance its oral bioavailability. Pseudo -ternary phase diagrams were made by using aqueous titration method. Nanoemulsions of pseudo-ternary phase diagrams composed of S mix (mixture of surfactant and co- surfactant), oil and deionized water. These nanoemulsions subjected for thermodynamic stability tests in order to select optimized formulations. Nimodipine nanoemulsions were subjected for characterizations studies in order to select the optimized formula. The characterizations studies explain that the optimized formula NE5  composed of 0.6% of nimodipine, 25% of S mix (2:1) that mean (16.66% tween 20: 8.33% PEG400), 10% of oleic acid and 64.4% of deionized water. The optimized formula NE5 characterized by droplet size (50 – 81.2 nm), polydispersity index (0.01), pH value (6.51), higher zeta potential (- 45.6 mV), drug content (98.9%), low viscosity and  in vitro release of nimodipine was  significantly higher (P<0.05) for NE5. Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) study confirms that the droplet size of NE5 was in nanoscale. It can be concluded that the optimized formula (nimodipine NE5) was a promising formula of nanoemulsion to enhance the oral bioavailability of nimodipine.