title: Pectosomes and chitosomes as delivery systems for metronidazole: the one-pot preparation method.
abstract: Mucoadhesive liposomes offer a potential for improved residence time of liposomal systems targeting contact with mucosal tissues, such as in buccal, oral, colon, and vaginal drug delivery. Most of the currently available methods rely on the coating of preformed liposomes by various mucoadhesive polymers. The aim of this study was to develop novel mucoadhesive system by the one-pot preparation method. The pectin- and chitosan-containing liposomes, namely pectosomes and chitosomes, were prepared by the modified solvent injection method. In order to optimize this novel delivery system, we used pectins and chitosans of both high and low degree of esterification/deacetylation (DE/DD), respectively. Sonication was applied to reduce the original vesicle size. All vesicles were characterized for their size, zeta potential, metronidazole entrapment, and stability. Both pectosomes and chitosomes were found to entrap more metronidazole than conventional plain liposomes. Preliminary data indicate that the polymer is present on the liposomal surface, embedded within inner liposomal bilayers, and entrapped inside the aqueous compartment. The next step in the evaluation of this system is the testing of its mucoadhesiveness.
authors.affiliation: Drug Transport and Delivery Research Group, Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Tromsø, Tromsø 9037, Norway. natasa.skalko-basnet@uit.no.
authors.forename: Toril
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Andersen
authors.forename: Zeljka
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Vanić
authors.forename: Gøril Eide
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Flaten
authors.forename: Sofia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mattsson
authors.forename: Ingunn
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tho
authors.forename: Nataša
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Skalko-Basnet