Fast swelling highly porous superporous hydrogels (SPH) are synthesized through a method utilizing rapid solution polymerization of acrylic acid for development of gastric retention devices. The swelling property, mechanical strength and release profile of SPH containing Metformin was investigated by changing the amount of crosslinking agents, (Bis) and AcDiSol. The results indicate that swelling ratio increases in the concentration range of 1%-2.5% w/v of Bis while beyond 2.5% w/v the swelling ratio slightly decreases but is not significant. Mechanical strength of the SPH was significantly increased by increasing the concentration of Bis from 1%-3.5% w/v. The release kinetics of SPH containing different crosslinker concentrations was measured in 0.1NHCl which was found to be consistent with the expected swelling behavior. AcDiSol was an important factor in maintaining the capillary structure required for fast swelling. Increase in AcDiSol resulted in decrease in swelling ratio of composite from 98.36±0.5% to 85.57±0.4%. As the amount of AcDiSol increases the mechanical strength increases due to increased cross linking density of the Superporous Hydrogel. This study indicates that superporous hydrogel composite possessed two properties necessary for gastric retention i.e., fast swelling and mechanical strength.

Nanospheres made from natural hydrophilic polymers have been proved efficient in terms of better drug-loading capacity, biocompatibility, and possibility less opsonization by reticuloendothelial system (RES) through an aqueous stearic barrier. Hence, nanospheres containing methotrexate were prepared from bovine serum albumin (BSA) by a novel pH coacervation method. A drug-to-polymer ratio study was carried out to determine the carrier capacity. The batch with the highest drug loading was subjected to in vitro analysis. It was found to provide a slow release after an initial burst release. Biodistribution of nanosphere-bound drug was compared with that of free drug in mice. It was observed that the percentage increase in drug distribution to the lungs, liver, and spleen was markedly high from the nanosphere when compared to free drug.

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Solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) are colloidal carrier systems providing controlled release profiles for many substances. These are interesting nanoparticulate delivery systems produced from solid lipids. Erythromycin-loaded SLN were prepared using glyceryl behenate as solid lipid by microemulsion technique and evaluated for particle size, zeta potential as well as entrapment efficiency of this lipophilic drug. The formulation was optimized using taguchi design L9 orthogonal array. The formulated SLNs were found to be relatively uniform in size (355.29 nm) with a negative zeta potential (−15.90 mV). The average drug entrapment efficiency and loading were 51.65%. The ultimate objective of the present study was to formulate erythromycin loaded solid lipid nanoparticulate (ESLN) gel and compare it with conventional gel of erythromycin with respect to ex-vivo release and primary skin irritation studies. ESLN gel produced significantly higher deposition of erythromycin in skin than conventional gel. Release mechanism was found to be a coupling of diffusion and erosion. The obtained results for primary skin irritation studies displayed no erythema or edema on intact rat skin. The SLN based gel described in this study elicited prolonged activity of upto 24 h.