Blood Brain Barrier (BBB) represents a major hurdle for the delivery of bioactives in the brain. It serves as a major constraint for the entry of hydrophilic drugs and the efflux pumps present on its surface restrain the intracellular accumulation of pharmacological moieties in the brain. Nanoparticles (NPs) in this regard can serve as a potential module for ferrying large doses of drugs across the BBB. These can be coated at surfaces or fabricated with a targeting moiety, so as to gain access in the brain thus, minimizing the toxicity of therapy. Therefore, the NPs can serve as an exclusive dais for spatial and temporal distribution of pharmacological agents across the brain, escalating the probability of disease free survival. The current review explores the various possible mechanisms so that the NPs can gain access in the brain viz a viz adsorption, receptor mediated endocytosis, transcytosis, inhibiting p-glycoprotein efflux pump, membrane permeabilization effect and disrupting the BBB. The article also accounts the prospects of NPs to enhance the transport of therapeutic agents across the brain, providing refined drug delivery.

A simple, sensitive, and selective high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method has been developed and validated for the analysis of aconitine in marketed ayurvedic taila (oil) formulations containing roots of Aconitum chasmanthum. Chromatography of methanolic extracts of these formulations was performed on C 18 (5 µm × 25 cm × 4.6 mm i.d.) column using isocratic mobile phase consisting of (65 : 35% v/v) acetonitrile and buffer solution (aqueous 0.01 M ammonium bicarbonate buffer, adjusted to pH 9.6 using 30% ammonia solution) at a flow rate of 1 mL/min and SPD-10 A VP photodiode array (PDA) UV-Visible detector. The analytical reference, aconitine, was quantified at 238 nm. The retention time of aconitine was about 42.54 min. The linear regression analysis data for the calibration plot showed a good linear relationship with correlation coefficient of 0.9989 in the concentration range of 15 to 90 µg/mL for aconitine with respect to peak area. The limit of detection and limit of quantitation values were found to be 0.03 µg/mL and 0.1 µg/mL respectively. Repeatability of the method was found to be 0.551-1.689 RSD. Recovery values from 97.75 to 99.91% indicate excellent accuracy of the method. The developed HPLC method is accurate and precise and it can be successfully applied for the determination of aconitine in marketed ayurvedic oil formulations containing Aconitum chasmanthum.

Prevention of cross contamination with active pharmaceutical ingredients is crucial and requires special attention in pharmaceutical industries. Current method validation describes the determination of Nabumetone (NAB) residue on a stainless steel surface using swab sampling with a sensitive HPLC-DAD analysis. The acceptance limit was decided as 2 μg swab per 100 cm2. Cotton swabs impregnated with extraction solution were used to determine residual drug content. Recoveries were 90.88%, 91.42%, and 92. 21% with RSD ranging from 2.2% to 3.88% at three concentration levels. Residual concentration was found to be linear in the range of 0.1–4.56 μg/mL, when estimated using a Phenomenex Luna C18 (25 cm×5 μm×4.6 mm i.d.) column at 1.0 mL/min flow rate and 230 nm. The mobile phase consisted of a mixture of methanol:acetonitrile:water (55:30:15, v/v/v). The LOD and LOQ for NAB were found to be 0.05 and 0.16 μg/mL, respectively. The validated method was found to be simple, selective and sensitive for demonstration of cleaning validation of NAB residues on a stainless steel surface.

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Allium sativum L (garlic) is an essential component of many polyherbal oils used in traditional systems of medicine. Allyl disulfide has been a major component found in vegetable oil macerate of garlic, and can be used as reliable marker for determination of garlic in oil macerates of garlic. The HPLC separation of allyl disulfide was achieved on a Phenomenex Luna C18 (25 cm x 4.6 mm id x 5 pm particle size) column using acetonitrile-water-tetrahydrofuran (70 + 27 + 3, v/v/v) mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. Quantitation was achieved with UV detection at 298 nm over the concentration range 8-48 microg/mL. HPTLC separation of allyl disulfide was achieved on an aluminum-backed layer of silica gel 60 F254 using n-hexane mobile phase. Quantitation was achieved by densitometric analysis at 298 nm over the 200-1200 ng/band concentration range. The methods were validated according to International Conference on Harmonization guidelines.