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Improved transdermal delivery of cetirizine hydrochloride using polymeric microneedles

DARU Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences volume 27, pages 673–681 (2019)Cite this article

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study was to design and characterize microneedle patch formulation containing cetirizine hydrochloride.

Methods

Chitosan was co-formulated with cetirizine hydrochloride. Transdermal patches were prepared by casting this solution to microneedle molds. Control patches were formulated by casting this solution to a plain cuvet of same area as mold but lacking microneedles. An array of methods namely; differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were employed for the characterization of the films and the microneedles accordingly whereas in vitro permeation studies were conducted across rat skin. Light microscopy was performed to assess any histological changes upon microneedles application onto the rat skin.

Results

The patches had a reproducible thickness (0.86 ± 0.06 mm) and folding endurance. Both the blank and drug loaded patches had 100 microneedles each of 300 micrometre length. In addition, the microneedle patches were ascribed with a two-fold increase in drug permeation across rat skin in the presence of microneedles as compared to the control formulations. Histological examination confirms a minimal invasion of the skin conferred by the microneedles.

Conclusion

The microneedle patches serve as an alternate route of drug administration in patients with nausea and swelling difficulties.

Microneedle patch manifest a two-fold increase in the skin permeation of Cetirizine Hydrochloride as compared to the control that is drug loaded patch without microneedles

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the financial support provided by Higher Education Commision of Pakistan under National Research Program for Universities (NRPU) vide No: 7401/Punjab/NRPU/R&D/HEC/2017.

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Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Pharmacy, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan

    Muhammad Sohail Arshad & Sana Hassan

  2. College of Pharmacy, University of the Punjab Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan

    Amjad Hussain & Nasir Abbas

  3. Faculty of Engineering and natural sciences, Bursa Technical University, Bursa, Turkey

    Israfil Kucuk

  4. The Leicester School of Pharmacy, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK

    Kazem Nazari, Radeyah Ali, Suleman Ramzan, Ali Alqahtani & Zeeshan Ahmad

  5. Department of Pharmacy, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Eleftherios G. Andriotis & Dimitris G. Fatouros

  6. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, People’s Republic of China

    Ming-Wei Chang

  7. Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Cardio-Cerebral Vascular Detection Technology and Medicinal Effectiveness Appraisal, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, People’s Republic of China

    Ming-Wei Chang

  8. Nanotechnology and Integrated Bioengineering Centre, University of Ulster, Jordanstown Campus, Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland, BT37 0QB, UK

    Ming-Wei Chang

Authors
  1. Muhammad Sohail Arshad
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  2. Sana Hassan
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  3. Amjad Hussain
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  4. Nasir Abbas
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  5. Israfil Kucuk
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  6. Kazem Nazari
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  7. Radeyah Ali
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  8. Suleman Ramzan
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  9. Ali Alqahtani
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  10. Eleftherios G. Andriotis
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  11. Dimitris G. Fatouros
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  12. Ming-Wei Chang
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  13. Zeeshan Ahmad
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the preparation of the manuscript and the study (i.e. through various streams be it planning, experiments, analysis of data, data preparation etc).

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zeeshan Ahmad.

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Arshad, M.S., Hassan, S., Hussain, A. et al. Improved transdermal delivery of cetirizine hydrochloride using polymeric microneedles. DARU J Pharm Sci 27, 673–681 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40199-019-00301-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40199-019-00301-3

Keywords

  • Microneedles
  • Transdermal Drug delivery
  • Cetirizine Hydrochloride