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Design and Development of Fluconazole-Loaded Nanocellulose-Eudragit Vaginal Drug Delivery System

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this research work was to evaluate the scaffolds of rice and wheat nanocellulose with Eudragit E100 for vaginal delivery of fluconazole.

Method

The nanocellulose-based scaffolds were fabricated by the lyophilization technique using a two-factor three-level central composite experimental design. The optimal formulation of the fluconazole-loaded Eudragit-coated rice or wheat nanocellulose-based scaffolds comprised of nanocellulose (3.4% w/v or 3.3% w/v) and Eudragit E100 (6.3% w/v or 7.9% w/v), respectively.

Results

The Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy confirmed the Eudragit coating on nanocellulosic fibers while the thermogravimetric study unveiled the higher thermal stability of coated scaffolds. The diffraction pattern and electron micrographs revealed the amorphous and porous nature of the fabricated scaffolds. The molecular weight of rice and wheat nanocellulose-based scaffolds was determined to be 9.7 × 106 Da and 6.07 × 106 Da, respectively, by the static light scattering. Further, the Eudragit-coated nanocellulose scaffolds show greater swelling (fivefold higher), porosity (> 84%), tensile strength (> 274 MPa), and mucoadhesive strength (> 1940 mN), and less enzymatic degradation rate over the unmodified scaffolds. The optimal batch of Eudragit-coated nanocellulose scaffolds provided a sustained release of 99% of fluconazole over 48 h with 1.12-fold higher ex vivo vaginal permeation over the native scaffolds. In addition, the Eudragit-coated wheat nanocellulose-based scaffolds were found to be antifungal and non-cytotoxic in nature.

Conclusion

The research work demonstrates that fluconazole-loaded Eudragit-coated rice or wheat nanocellulose scaffolds can be utilized as a vaginal drug delivery system.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We are thankful to the Coordinator, DST-FIST, Department of Physics, GJUST, Hisar (SR/FST/PSI-089-2005) for providing us the facilities for XRD; Central Instrumentation Laboratory, GJUST, Hisar for the SEM analysis; and ACTREC, Mumbai for the anticancer activity.

Funding

The authors are grateful to the Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India for providing the DST-INSPIRE research fellowship to Rimpy (Sanction no.: IF 180776).

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  1. Drug Delivery Research Laboratory, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar, Haryana, 125001, India

    Rimpy Pahwa & Munish Ahuja

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  1. Rimpy Pahwa
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Rimpy Pahwa: data curation, visualization, methodology, investigation, writing — original draft, validation. Munish Ahuja: writing — review and editing, supervision, conceptualization, project administration, funding acquisition.

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Correspondence to Munish Ahuja.

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Pahwa, R., Ahuja, M. Design and Development of Fluconazole-Loaded Nanocellulose-Eudragit Vaginal Drug Delivery System. J Pharm Innov 18, 1065–1083 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12247-022-09705-2

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