Formulation Design, Characterization and In-Vivo Assessment of Cefixime Loaded Binary Solid Lipid Nanoparticles to Enhance Oral Bioavailability

Cefixime; widely employed cephalosporin antibiotic is unfortunately coupled to poor water solubility with resultant low oral bioavailability issues. To solve this problem micro-emulsion technique was used to fabricate binary SLNs using blend of solid and liquid lipids, surfactant as well as co- surfactant. The optimized nano suspension was characterized followed by modification to solidified dosage form. During characterization, optimized nano-suspension (CFX-4) produced particle size 189 +/- 2.1 nm with PDI 0.310 +/- 0.02 as well as -33.9 +/- 2 mV zeta potential. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) presented nearly identical and spherical shaped particles. Differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray powder diffraction analysis ascertained decrease in drug's crystallinity. In-vitro release of drug pursued zero-order characteristics and demonstrated non-fickian pattern of diffusion. The freeze dried nano suspension (CFX-4) was transformed to capsule dosage form to perform comparison based in-vivo studies. In-vivo evaluation corresponded to 2.20-fold and 2.11-fold enhancement in relative bioavailability of CFX nano-formulation (CFX-4) as well as the prepared capsules respectively in contrast to the commercialized product (Cefiget (R)). In general; the obtained results substantiated superior oral bioavailability along with sustained pattern of drug release for CFX loaded binary nano particles. Thus, binary SLNs could be employed as a resourceful drug carrier for oral CFX delivery.