Chitosan nanoparticles for controlled delivery of brimonidine tartrate to the ocular membrane.

: Various efforts have been made to improve the bioavailability and to prolong the residence time of eye drops. Drug loaded polymeric nanoparticles offer several favorable biological properties. Thus, brimonidine tartrate (BT) loaded chitosan (CS) nanoparticles were prepared by inducing the ionic gelation upon addition of sodium tripolyphosphate (TPP). Nanoparticles were characterized by TEM, SEM, particle size, polydispersity index (PI), DSC, IR, entrapment efficiency which gave an insight of physicochemical interaction that influenced the CS nanoparticle formation and entrapment of BT. In vitro release of BT nanoparticle showed sustained release over the period of 4 h in saline phosphate buffer pH 7.4. Both placebo and BT loaded nanoparticles had a mean particle size range of about 270-370 nm with PI less than 0.5. DSC studies demonstrated structural interactions between BT, TPP and CS matrix. Entrapment efficiency of the CS nanoparticles ranged from 36-49% depending on the CS:TPP weight ratio. In vivo studies confirmed a significant sustained effect of BT nanoparticles compared to conventional eye drops. These results suggest that BT loaded CS nanoparticles could help to reduce dosage frequency by sustained drug release in the treatment of glaucoma.