Preparation and Characterization of Nanoparticles for Solubility and Dissolution Rate Enhancement of Meloxicam

The aim of the present work was to enhance dissolut ion of poorly water-soluble meloxicam by preparing stable nanoparticles. Meloxicam nanoparticles were produce by combining antisolvent precipitation and high p ressure homogenization approaches in presence of selected s tabilizers and converting into dry powders by spray -dr ing. The physicochemical properties of drug and its nanopart icles were characterized by SEM, XRD, FT-IR, DSC as well as measuring the particle size and in-vitro drug dissolution. The DSC and XRD results indicat ed hat the antisolvent precipitation process led to the amorphization of m eloxicam. An increase in the stability of the nanop articles was also assured by the sufficient adsorption of the stabili zers onto the drug surface. Meloxicam nanoparticles increased the saturation solubility of drug almost fourfold. The in vitro studies at Q5min showed a marked increase in the drug release from just 7% (raw drug) to 82% (Meloxicam nanoparti cles). The combining of both the methods was a prom ising method to produce uniform and stable nanoparticles of melo xicam with remarkable improvement in dissolution ra te due to an increased solubility by the effect of increased sur face area and change to amorphous form of the drug.