PROPRANOLOL HYDROCHLORIDE LOADED NANOSPHERES: DEVELOPMENT AND CHARACTERIZATION

Nanotechnology is widely used for delivery of various drugs to the body for increasing the bioavailability, reducing toxicity and controlled release.Nanospheres are the solid particles which are spherical in shape, having the particle size range between 1-1000 nm and having better bioavailability. In nanospheres, the drug is physically and uniformly dispersed in the matrix system of the polymer. Nanospheres of Propranolol Hydrochloride were prepared by using solvent evaporation technique with different concentration of Eudragit RS100 and Eudragit RL100 polymers. The different formulation factors like drug: polymer ratio, concentration of solvent, stirring speed, stirring time on particle size, drug encapsulation, drug efficiency, surface morphology, and process yield and drug release behavior was studied. The in-vitro performance of nanospheres were evaluated by recovery efficiency, particle size analysis, surface topography (using scanning electron microscopy), drug-polymer compatibility (using differential scanning calorimetry) and drug release studies. The single emulsion solvent evaporation method used for nanospheres preparation was suitable in the particle size range between 265.67±3.98 nm, the encapsulation efficiency was 74.67±2.56% (w/w) and the process yield was 83.23±1.23% (w/w). Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) showed that nanospheres were having spherical in shape. FTIR showed no potential chemical interaction between the drug and polymer used. In vitro release studies revealed that drug release from nanospheres followed Higuchi kinetics.