Glimepiride (GMP), an oral hypoglycemic agent is extensively employed in the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Transdermal delivery of GMP has been widely investigated as a promising alternative to an oral approach but the delivery of GMP is hindered owing to its low solubility and permeation. The present study was designed to formulate topical nanoemulgel GMP system and previously reported solubility enhanced glimepiride (GMP/βCD/GEL-44/16) in combination with anti-diabetic oil to enhance the hypoglycemic effect. Nanoemulsions were developed using clove oil, Tween-80, and PEG-400 and were gelled using xanthan gum (3%, w/w) to achieve the final nanoemulgel formulations. All of the formulations were evaluated in terms of particle size, zeta potential, pH, conductivity, viscosity, and in vitro skin permeation studies. In vivo hypoglycemic activity of the optimized nanoemulgel formulations was evaluated using a streptozocin-induced diabetes model. It was found that a synergistic combination of GMP with clove oil improved the overall drug permeation across the skin membrane and the hypoglycemic activity of GMP. The results showed that GMP/βCD/GEL-44/16-loaded nanoemulgel enhanced the in vitro skin permeation and improved the hypoglycemic activity in comparison with pure and marketed GMP. It is suggested that topical nano emulsion-based GMP gel and GMP/βCD/GEL-44/16 could be an effective alternative for oral therapy in the treatment of diabetes.

Antimicrobials are widely used to treat bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoa. Therefore, research and development of newer types of antimicrobials are important. Antimicrobial resistance has emerged as a major challenge to the healthcare system, although various alternative antimicrobials have been proposed. However, none of these show consistent and comparable efficacy to antimicrobials in clinical trials. More recently, nanoparticles have emerged as a potential solution to antimicrobial agents to overcome antimicrobial resistance. This article revisits and updates applications of various types of nanoparticles for the delivery of antimicrobial agents and their characterization. Though nanoparticle technology has some limitations, it provides an innovative approach to pharmaceutical technology. Furthermore, nanoparticles offer a variety of advantages, such as enhancement of solubility and permeation, leading to better efficacy. In this article, approaches commonly employed to improve antimicrobial therapy are discussed. These approaches have advantages and applications and provide a broader opportunity for pharmaceutical scientists to choose the proper method per the desired outcome.