Freeze-dried Xanthan/Guar Gum Nasal Inserts for the Delivery of Metoclopramide Hydrochloride

   Prolonged residence of drug formulation in the nasal cavity is important for the enhancing intranasal drug delivery. The objective of the present study was to develop a mucoadhesive in-situ gelling nasal insert which would enable the reduced nasal mucociliary clearance in order to improve the bioavailability of metoclopramide hydrochloride. Metoclopramide hydrochloride is a potent antiemetic and effective for preventing emesis induced by cancer chemotherapy, migraine, pregnancy and gastroparesis. It undergoes hepatic first pass metabolism and both the absolute bioavailability and the plasma concentrations are subjected to wide inter-individual variation showing values between 32% and 98%. Oral antiemetic often gets vomited out before the systemic absorption compelling parenteral administration which results in low patient compliance. Adverse effect of metoclopramide HCL on CNS caused by high plasma peaks can be avoided through sustained formulation.    A novel combination of xanthan gum and guar gum was used to prepare the nasal inserts and the effect of blend ratio of xanthan gum and guar gum on drug release from in-situ gelling nasal inserts and on other insert properties such as bioadhesion potential and water uptake was studied. PXRD was used to determine the effect of freeze-drying on crystalline nature of formulation.    The viscosities of xanthan gum in combination with guar gum were observed to be higher than that of single polymer solutions. This is because of the synergistic rheological interaction between xanthan and guar gum. There is a substantial loss in crystalline nature of the formulation after freeze-drying.    The best nasal inserts formulation containing xanthan gum and guar gum ratio 1:5, showed good release (91.83%) as well as bioadhesion which may result in an increase in the nasal residence time.