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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Mater.
Sec. Colloidal Materials and Interfaces
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmats.2024.1409310

Formulation and Structural Insight of Biocompatible Microemulsion for Enhanced Release Profile of Anticancer Methotrexate Provisionally Accepted

Muhammad Yasir Siddique1 Sehrish Zafar2 Linta Rizwan1 Dr Muhammad Atif Saleem1 Sajjad Haider3 Waqar Azeem4 Kamran Alam5 Yasir Iqbal6 Sajjad H. Sumrra1 Muhammad Faizan Nazar2*
  • 1University of Gujrat, Pakistan
  • 2University of Education Lahore, Pakistan
  • 3King Saud University, Saudi Arabia
  • 4Lahore Chemical & Pharmaceutical Works (Private) Limited, Pakistan
  • 5Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
  • 6Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan

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Microemulsions (μEs) are particularly suitable systems for the efficient delivery of anticancer drugs due to their thermodynamic stability, structural flexibility and patient-friendly chemotherapies. Moreover, μE formulations can efficiently encapsulate the anticancer drugs and deliver them to the desired location. Herein, three new Tween-60 based µE formulations were developed to enhance the dissolution profile of anticancer Methotrexate (MTX). For this, μE formulations using an appropriate ratio of castor oil (∼9%), water (∼11%) and Tween-60 (∼40%), while ethanol, 2-propanol and 1-butanol were selected as co-surfactant for each formulation, respectively. Preliminary, the phase compatibility of the μE ingredients, the average μE region, and the structural transformation in the microstructure of μE were delineated by mapping the pseudoternary phase diagram as well as electrical conductivity, viscosity, and optical microscopic measurements. The size distribution profile of as-formulated μEs analyzed by dynamic light scattering (DLS) revealed the fine monomodal assembly of MTX-μE nanodroplets (∼65 nm), which remained stable over a half year of storage. FTIR analysis showed good compatibility of MTX with μE ingredients with no apparent chemical interaction, while fluorescence measurements indorsed the acquisition of MTX in nonpolar microenvironments.Further, enhanced dissolution rate (>98% ± 1.5%, P ≤ 0.001) and superior bioavailability of the lyophilized non-aggregated methotrexate nanoparticles (MTX-NPs) was achieved, making it the suitable formulation for oral administration.

Keywords: microemulsion, microenvironment, microstructure, Nanodroplets, bioavailability V e s s e l -1 V e s s e l -2 V e s s e l -3 V e s s e l -4 V e s s e l -5 V e s s e l -6 V e s s e l -7 V e s s e l -8 V e s s e l -9 V e s s e l -1 0 V e s s e l -1 1 V e s s e l -1 2

Received: 29 Mar 2024; Accepted: 10 May 2024.

Copyright: © 2024 Siddique, Zafar, Rizwan, Saleem, Haider, Azeem, Alam, Iqbal, Sumrra and Nazar. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Dr. Muhammad Faizan Nazar, University of Education Lahore, Lahore, 54770, Punjab, Pakistan