Dendimer-mediated solubilization, formulation development and in vitro-in vivo assessment of piroxicam.

The present investigation was aimed at exploring dendrimer-mediated solubilization and formulation development followed by in vitro, in vivo assessment of piroxicam (PXM) nanocomposite. For this, two dendrimer generations (3.0G and 4.0G) were synthesized and characterized by IR, (1)H NMR spectroscopic and electron microscopy techniques. The optimized formulations containing 0.2% w/v of PXM loaded PAMAM dendrimer at pH 7.4 referred to as 0.2-D(3)P(7.4) (3.0G) and 0.2-D(4)P(7.4) (4.0G) resulted in significant enhancements of PXM solubility approximately by 107- and 222-fold, respectively. The in vitro release behavior of PXM from the formulation in medium-I (PBS 7.4) and medium-II (PBS with 1% albumin) and stability studies were also favorable. Pharmacokinetic study showed higher area under curve (AUC(0-->t); microg/mL/h) of 293.78 +/- 2.04 and 321.54 +/- 2.37 with optimized 0.2-D(3)P(7.4) and 0.2-D(4)P(7.4) formulations, respectively, as opposed to 279.11 +/- 1.48 with plain PXM. The elimination half-life of the drug encapsulated in the formulation was significantly higher (0.2-D(3)P(7.4), 36.6 and 0.2-D(4)P(7.4), 41.1; h) than that of pure drug (33.7 h; p < 0.005), and the overall elimination rate constant of formulations was also less as compared to free drug (p < 0.005). Pharmacodynamic assessment by rat-paw model of 0.2-D(3)P(7.4) and 0.2-D(4)P(7.4) formulations displayed inhibition levels of 54.21 +/- 1.25% and 59.33 +/- 0.63%, respectively, which are higher than those of plain PXM (41.81 +/- 2.9) formulations, after the sixth hour of administration. The second, fourth and eighth hour organ distribution data showed significantly higher recovery of PXM in rat paw with dendrimer-based formulations in comparison to plain PXM. However, comparison of overall data suggested 4.0G-based formulations to be superior to 3.0G as well as pure PXM.