Optimizing Etodolac and Quercetin Loaded MSNs Using Taguchi Design: An approach for Enhancing Drug Loading Efficiency

Sourav Chougule; Hafiz Ahmed; Snigdha Singh; Mukta Agrawal; Ravish J Patel; Amit Alexander

doi:10.1016/j.xphs.2024.12.026

Optimizing Etodolac and Quercetin Loaded MSNs Using Taguchi Design: An approach for Enhancing Drug Loading Efficiency

J Pharm Sci. 2025 Jan 13:S0022-3549(24)00620-8. doi: 10.1016/j.xphs.2024.12.026. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Sourav Chougule¹, Hafiz Ahmed¹, Snigdha Singh¹, Mukta Agrawal², Ravish J Patel³, Amit Alexander⁴

Affiliations

¹ Nanotech Laboratory, Department of Pharmaceutics, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) Guwahati, Changsari, Kamrup 781101, Assam, India.
² School of Pharmacy & Technology Management, SVKM's Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), Polepally SEZ, TSIIC, Jadcherla, Mahbubnagar, Hyderabad, India, 509301.
³ Ramanbhai Patel College of Pharmacy (RPCP), Charotar University of Science and Technology (CHARUSAT), At & Post- Changa, Tal- Petlad, Dist- Anand Gujarat State 388 421, India.
⁴ Nanotech Laboratory, Department of Pharmaceutics, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) Guwahati, Changsari, Kamrup 781101, Assam, India. Electronic address: amit@niperguwahati.in.

PMID: 39814181
DOI: 10.1016/j.xphs.2024.12.026

Abstract

The application of mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) as a drug carrier system got immense attention in the past few years due to their exceptional high drug loading efficiency. However, the process of drug loading is quite challenging compared to other lipid-based drug delivery systems. Hence, the MSNs using different catalysts were synthesized, and their mesoporous material characteristic was confirmed by the type IV adsorption-desorption isotherm using BET analyzer. The effect of solvent selection and other process parameters (drug to MSNs ratio, period of loading, and stirring speed) on the loading of BCS class II and IV model drugs etodolac(ETD) and quercetin(QUR) respectively were investigated with the help of Taguchi DOE. The predicted value for the highest % drug loading was close to the experimental value(19.04 ± 0.50 % and 11.40 ± 0.18 % for ETD and QUR respectively). It was interesting to note, that the solvent selection had the highest impact on the drug loading of ETD into the MSNs, whereas for QUR this parameter was insignificant. Hence reflecting that a generalized procedure for the drug loading into the MSNs cannot be followed and had to be critically studied. Also, the loading of ETD and QUR into the MSNs improved the aqueous solubility (3.08 and 2.5 folds respectively). Further the in-vitro drug release properties were evaluated for ETD and QUR from MSNs in various drug release mediums to explore their release mechanism from MSNs using in vitro drug release kinetic modelling.

Keywords: BCS-Class II; BCS-Class IV; DOE; Drug loading parameters; Etodolac; MCM-41; MSNs; Mesoporous silica nanoparticles; Quercetin; Sol-gel; Taguchi.