Abstract
Nose-to-Brain drug delivery can bypass blood-brain-barrier though the olfactory region using different devices and dosage forms. This work aimed to fabricate and characterize a novel dosage form, nasal inserts, containing rivastigmine tartrate. Four formulae were fabricated using gelatin/HPMC matrix in a different ratios and grades. The fabricated nasal inserts were characterized in terms of physical appearance, surface pH, diameter and length, mechanical properties, and mucoadhesive behaviour. The content uniformity, release profile, Ex-vivo permeation of rivastigmine tartrate were also investigated. The release profiles for all nasal inserts were fitted to kinetics model. Physical and chemical stability of the dosage form were evaluated. F2 appears to have the best sustained release profile, where F1 appears to have the best immediate release profile.
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•Nasal insert, as a novel nose-to-brain dosage form, was formulated using quick melting step.•The olfactory region of sheep nasal mucosa was isolated and used for ex-vivo evaluation of nasal inserts.•Self-designed apparatus for ex-vivo muco-adhesive assessment was proposed.•All the formulated nasal inserts were in-vitro and ex-vivo evaluated for nose-to-brain delivery.