Enhancement of Oral Bioavailability of Ibandronate Through Gastroretentive Raft Forming Drug Delivery System: In Vitro and In Vivo Evaluation

Muhammad Hanif,1 Shahid Shah,2 Akhtar Rasul,3 Ghulam Abbas,3 Muhammad Zaman,4 Muhammad Wahab Amjad,5 Maria Abdul Ghafoor Raja,5 Hafeez Ullah Khan,6 Mehran Ashfaq,3 Omeira Iqbal3 1Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan; 2Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan; 3Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan; 4Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Central Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan; 5Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Northern Border University, Rafha, Saudi Arabia; 6College of Pharmacy, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, PakistanCorrespondence: Ghulam AbbasDepartment of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Government College University, Faisalabad, PakistanEmail ghulamabbas@gcuf.edu.pkBackground: Bisphosphonates have very low bioavailability and cause irritation of the esophagus and stomach. This study was planned to improve the oral bioavailability of ibandronate through the formation of a raft in the stomach. Bisphosphonate-induced irritation of the esophagus and stomach is prevented by the formation of a raft.Materials and Methods: The nanostructured raft was developed through the use of nanosized citrus pectin (NCP). The particle size of NCP was measured by zeta sizer and SEM. The percentage of NCP and the neutralization profile of raft was studied. The ibandronate, polymers, and the developed formulation were characterized by FTIR, XRD, TGA, and DSC. The release of ibandronate was studied in 0.1 N HCl, 0.5 N HCl, 1 N HCl, and simulated gastric fluid (SGF) and a cell viability study was performed using Caco-2 cells. The PPR5 formulation and Bonish 150 mg tablets were selected as test and reference formulations, respectively, for pharmacokinetic study. Twelve healthy albino rats were taken and divided into two groups using a Latin square crossover design, and the blood samples were collected for 24 hours.Results: The SEM image showed that the particle size of NCP was 159 nm. The raft of PPR5 showed 94% NCP and 45 minutes duration of neutralization. The FTIR and XRD showed chemical stability and a uniform distribution of ibandronate in the raft. The TGA and DSC indicated the thermal stability of formulation. The release of 99.87% ibandronate at 20 minutes was observed in the SGF. The values of Cmax for the reference and test formulations were 493± 0.237 ng/mL and 653± 0.097 ng/mL, respectively. The AUC(0-t) of the reference and test formulations was 3708.25± 3.418 ng/mL.h and 6899.25± 3.467 ng/mL.h, respectively.Conclusion: The NCP has been successfully prepared from citrus pectin and has shown effective porous raft formation. The bioavailability of the ibandronate from newly developed PPR5 was higher than the already marketed formulation.Keywords: nanosized citrus pectin, raft, in vitro release, cell viability, pharmacokinetics