Design and Development of Proniosome Based Transdermal Delivery of Ondansetron Hydrochloride

Proniosomes are well documented for transdermal drug delivery and preferred over other vesicular systems because they are biodegradable, biocompatible, non-toxic, possess skin penetration ability and prolong the release of drugs by acting as depot in deeper layers of skin. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the feasibility of proniosomes as transdermal drug delivery system for Ondansetron hydrochloride. It is a potent, highly selective, competitive antagonist at the 5HT3 receptor, and thus inhibits the symptoms of nausea and vomiting associated with cancer chemotherapy, radiotherapy and post operative nausea and vomiting. Its short biological half life (3-5 hours) and low bioavailability (45-50%) due to hepatic first pass metabolism makes it an appropriate candidate for sustained release. The process variables selected for investigation were effect of different ratios of soya lecithin and cholesterol and effect of type of various surfactants. Proniosomal gel (PNG) formulations of Ondansetron hydrochloride were prepared, and characterized for vesicles size, shape, entrapment efficiency, rate of spontaneity, zeta potential, ex vivo drug permeation and stability. The mean vesicle diameter of the optimized formulation was found to be 509.538 nm and its zeta potential was found to be -29 mv. Proniosomal transdermal therapeutic system prepared using soya lecithin and cholesterol 9:1 ratio with surfactant span 40 (PNG 1) was found to be optimized, as it gave better entrapment efficiency (95.70±0.6 %) and better cumulative drug release (83.6±9.52 %) in a steady-state manner over a prolonged period of time.