The objective of this study was to develop an efficient ocular nanovesicular carrier providing a controlled delivery of Clotrimazole (CLT); a water insoluble antifungal drug. The nanovesicular carriers were formulated using Span 60 with one of the following edge activators (EA): Tween 80 (TW80), sodium cholate (SC) or sodium deoxycholate (SDC). A 32 full factorial design was used to study the effect of two independent variables, namely, the type of EA and the ratio of Span 60 to EA. The effects of these parameters on the mean particle size, entrapment efficiency (EE) and zeta potential (ZP) were investigated as dependent variables. Then, optimization was performed producing the best optimized formulation composed of SDC as an EA at the ratio of 90:10 (Span 60:EA) with an average diameter of 479.60 nm, EE of 87.92% and ZP of −33.7 mV. The optimized nanovesicular carriers appeared as spherical unilamillar vesicles with CLT in an amorphous state as evidenced by the differential scanning calorimetry study. The antifungal activity against Candida albicans compared to niosomal formulation as well as the CLT suspension was determined. CLT-loaded nanovesicular carriers displayed sustained antifungal effect over 12 h. The AUC of the optimized formulation was 3.09 times more than that of drug suspension with no sign of irritation after testing for ocular tolerance. Therefore, the present study showed the feasibility of using non-ionic surfactant nanovesicles as carrier systems for prolonged ocular delivery of CLT.
New pyranocoumarin and coumarin-sulfonamide derivatives were prepared and evaluated for their antioxidant, antimicrobial, and/or anti-inflammatory activities. Coumarin-sulfonamide compounds 8a–d demonstrated significant antioxidant activity, while 7c,d, 8c,d, and 9c,d exhibited antimicrobial activity equal to or higher than the standard antimicrobials against at least one tested microorganism. Regarding the anti-inflammatory testing, pyranocoumarins 2b, 3a,b and 5c and coumarin-sulfonamide compound 9a showed more potent antiproteinase activity than aspirin in vitro; however, five compounds were as potent as aspirin. The anti-inflammatory activity of the promising compounds was further assessed pharmacologically on formaldehyde-induced rat paw oedema and showed significant inhibition of oedema. For in vitro COX-inhibitory activity of coumarin derivatives, pyranocoumarin derivative 5a was the most selective (SI = 152) and coumarin-sulfonamide derivative 8d was most active toward COX-2 isozyme. The most active derivatives met the in silico criteria for orally active drugs; thus, they may serve as promising candidates to develop more potent and highly efficient antioxidant, antimicrobial, and/or anti-inflammatory agents.
1 September 2014 in European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry