Preparation, preliminary pharmacokinetic and brain targeting study of metformin encapsulated W/O/W composite submicron emulsions promoted by borneol

Metformin hydrochloride (Met) is the first-line drug to treat type 2 diabetes and has shown high efficiency in reducing Alzheimer's disease in recent studies. Herein, a borneol W/O/W composite submicron emulsion containing met (B-Met-W/O/W SE) was prepared, expecting longer in-vivo circulation time, better bioavailability and brain targeting of met drug. In the optimized formulation, the mean droplets size, polydispersity index and encapsulation efficiency of the composite were 386.5 nm, 0.219 and 87.26%, respectively. FTIR analysis confirmed that met interacted with carriers in B-Met-W/O/W SE. Compared with met free drug, in-vitro release of Met in B-Met-W/O/W SE delivery system was much slower. In pharmacokinetic studies in rats, the AUC, MRT and t(1/2) of the B-Met-W/O/W SE system were respectively 1.27, 2.49 and 4.02-fold higher than met free drug system. The drug-targeting index of B-Met-W/O/W SE system to the brain tissue was also higher than that of Met free drug system and Met-W/O/W SE system. These results indicated that B-Met-W/O/W SE drug delivery system is a promising candidate in treating clinical Alzheimer's disease.