Nose to brain delivery of tailored clozapine nanosuspension stabilized using (+)-alpha-tocopherol polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate: Optimization and in vivo pharmacokinetic studies

Clozapine is widely used to treat schizophrenia as an atypical antipsychotic. Low solubility, poor dissolution rate, degradation in the gastrointestinal tract, high hepatic first-pass metabolism, and eventually less drug transfer in the brain are all issues with oral clozapine administration. On account of this poor pharmacokinetic parameters, the authors aimed to develop clozapine nanosuspension using (+)-alpha-tocopherol polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate (TPGS) and polyvinylpyrrolidone K-30 (PVP K-30) and deliver it through the intranasal route.

The nanosuspension was prepared by the high-speed homogenization method with 3² full factorial design for optimization of the product. Quality Target Product Profile (QTPP) was enlisted before the product development. The amount of TPGS and speed of homogenizer were selected as independent variables whereas, particle size and drug permeation profile after 24 h (Y₂, %) were selected as dependent variables. As per the results of optimization, amount of TPGS and speed of homogenizer were chosen as 0.1% and 7000 rpm, respectively. The particle size of the optimized nanosuspension of clozapine was found to be 281 nm. The conversion of clozapine crystals to an amorphous form was verified by characterization studies (XRD and DSC). The drug permeability study showed 96.15% and 41.12% clozapine release after 24 h from nanosuspension and conventional suspension, respectively. The study of nasal cilio-toxicity (histopathological studies) demonstrated the appropriateness of nanosuspension for intranasal purposes.

The single-dose in vivo pharmacokinetic analysis in the rat model showed a substantial increase in the therapeutic concentration of clozapine in the brain tissue in the case of intranasal nanosuspension (dose = 0.05 mg drug/0.1 mL, C_max = 8.62 ± 0.45 μg/g, t_max = 1 h) compared to conventional oral clozapine suspension (dose = 26.43 mg drug/0.158 mL, C_max = 1.14 ± 0.12 μg/g, t_max = 1 h). Ultimately, in the case of an intranasal route, a 3.56-fold increase in brain drug concentration was observed with a 528-fold lower drug dose compared with oral administration. The results suggest that clozapine nanosuspension may be used for successful nose-to-brain delivery.

Read the article here

Article information: Hetal P. Patel, Priyanka S. Chaudhari, Priyanshi A. Gandhi, Bhargavi V. Desai, Ditixa T. Desai, Praful P. Dedhiya, Bhavin A. Vyas, Furqan A. Maulvi. International Journal of Pharmaceutics, Volume 600, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpharm.2021.120474.