Design Development and Evaluation of Agomelatine Microemulsion for Intranasal Delivery

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop and optimize microemulsion containing agomelatine for intranasal delivery. Agomelatine, an antidepressant drug, has absolute bioavailability of only 5% due to high first pass metabolism. Agomelatine microemulsion and were prepared by titration method. Ternary phase diagram gave the microemulsion region and the concentration of oil; Smix and water were selected from ternary phase diagram. Based on solubility study, oleic acid, tween 80 and propylene glycol were selected as oil, surfactant and co surfactant respectively. Microemulsions were prepared using water titration method. 1:1% v/v ratio (Tween 80: Propylene glycol) was selected for formulation development. The prepared microemulsions were optimized optical transparency, viscosity measurement, phase separation, determination of pH, measurement of globule size, measurement of zeta potential, drug content, In vitro diffusion study, stability studies. The optimized batch was further characterized for optical transparency, viscosity measurement, phase separation, determination of pH, measurement of globule size, measurement of zeta potential, drug content, In vitro diffusion study, stability studies. Keywords: Depression, Intranasal, Microemulsions, Agomelatine