Development of Anti-diabetic Niosomes Formulation Containing Metformin and Gliclazide

Abstract

Metformin/Gliclazide niosomes were formulated with span 60 by ether injection method. Three batches MG1-MG3 were prepared in order to study influence of drug polymer ratio on the niosomes formation and in vitro drug release. The formulated niosomes were characterized by drug entrapment, vesicle size determination, and in vitro drug release. Optimized concentration of span 60 and cholesterol was found to be 1:1. In the in-vitro study, niosomes formulation of MG1 showed high percentage of drug release, 40.18 to 45.75% for about 8 hrs. This indicated that this batch of niosomes formulation exhibit sustained drug release pattern as the niosomes act as reservoir system for continuous delivery of drug. The quantity of Metformin/Gliclazide present in the niosomes and the release medium were estimated by a validated HPLC method. The formulated niosomes had acceptable physicochemical characters and released the drug over 6-8 h. The data obtained from in vitro release studies were fitted with various kinetic models and was found to follow Higuchi kinetics.