Chitosan nanofilm and electrospun nanofiber for quick drug release in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease: In vitro and in vivo evaluation

Chitosan micro sized ODF (CBF), chitosan nano sized ODF (CNF) and chitosan nanofiber (CNfib) were prepared to release the donepezil drug quickly for Alzheimer's disease. CNF and CNfib were prepared from ionic gelation technique and electro-spinning process which were further examined under in vitro and in vivo animal model studies. Good thermal stability of CNfib (450 °C) when compared to CBF (325 °C) and CNF (305 °C). The particle size was below 150 nm in diameter for CNfib and 250 nm in diameter for CNF4 from TEM technique. In vitro antimicrobial activities for ODF and nanofibers were conducted by well diffusion method against Gram +ve and Gram −ve bacteria after 24 h of incubation. From the in vitro release profile, the CNfib was competently showed rapid release of drug up to 97% than the thin film of CBF2 and CNF4 respectively in the initial period of 10 min. In vivo animal model studies demonstrated that the drug reached the maximum concentration within 3.5 h for chitosan nanofiber and nanofilm (CNF4). The chitosan nanofiber has given significantly faster absorption rate [1860.5 ng/ml of AUC(0-∞)] and the mean total area under curve was 161.71% on contrasted with chitosan nanofilm (CNF4).