Dilip Morani

: Recently, nanotherapeutics has revolutionized the major impact on healthcare strategies and health facilities. Nanotherapeutics includes design, development and application of therapeutic agents having nano-size (1-100 nm). Due to implications in gene therapy and drug delivery, nanotherapeutics has received much interest in the current scenario. The major area where research is going on and giving maximum benefits from nano-based delivery system includes cancer diagnosis and targeting. The nanotherapeutics are designed in such a way that they will overcome the major drawbacks of conventional therapy and have multi-functionalities so that it can be targeted to cancer site. Nanotherapeutics have increased the permeability and retention of anticancer agents thereby targeting them to the tumor site. Nanotherapeutics has increased the effectiveness of anticancer agents with less or no toxicity. Likewise, diagnostic imaging is also possible with fluorescent nanoparticles based nanotherapeutics and has major potential applications in recent upcoming years with newer fluorescent nanomaterials for specific cancer targeting. NTs provided the possibility of delivering drugs to specific cells using nanoparticles. The overall drug consumption and side-effects may be lowered significantly by depositing the active agent in the morbid region only and in no higher dose than needed. Thus, attempts have been made to define the nanotherapeutics and to compile the latest developments in the field. Because the topic is of high importance to the general human wellbeing and covers recapitulation of cancer nanotherapeutics and summarizes and restates the main points of nanotherapeutics in the treatment of cancer disease.

The objective of this study was to microencapsulate the anti-inflammatory drug (naproxen) to provide controlled release and minimizing or eliminating local side effect by avoiding the drug release in the upper gastrointestinal track. Naproxen was microencapsulated with lipid-like carnauba wax, hydrogenated castor oil using modified melt dispersion (modified congealable disperse phase encapsulation) technique. Effect of various formulation and process variables such as drug-lipid ratio, concentration of modifier, concentration of dispersant, stirring speed, stirring time, temperature of external phase, on evaluatory parameters such as size, entrapment efficiency, and in vitro release of naproxen were studied. The microspheres were characterized for particle size, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), FT-IR spectroscopy, drug entrapment efficiency, in vitro release studies, for in vitro release kinetics. The shape of microspheres was found to be spherical by SEM. The drug entrapment efficiency of various batches of microspheres was found to be ranging from 60 to 90 %w/w. In vitro drug release studies were carried out up to 24 h in pH 7.4 phosphate buffer showing 50-65% drug release. In vitro drug release from all the batches showed better fitting with the Korsmeyer-Peppas model, indicating the possible mechanism of drug release to be by diffusion and erosion of the lipid matrix. Key words: Carnauba wax, hydrogenated castor oil, lipid microspheres, modified melt dispersion technique, naproxen, release kinetics.