Date of Award
1-1-2023
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.S. in Pharmaceutical Science
First Advisor
Soumyajit Majumdar
Second Advisor
Michael A. Repka
Third Advisor
Dr. Walter Chambliss
School
University of Mississippi
Relational Format
dissertation/thesis
Abstract
The use of cannabidiol (CBD) for treating ocular disorders has gained increasing interest. There are several published investigations on the promising therapeutic potential of CBD for the treatment of glaucoma and retinal disorders. Epidiolex® is an oily solution of CBD in sesame oil, approved for the treatment of Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome. However, extensive first-pass metabolism as well as poor aqueous solubility prevents the achievement of therapeutic concentrations in ocular tissues following oral administration. In contrast, topical ocular formulations could provide a high concentration of CBD to tissues within the eye. Nevertheless, there is no currently marketed CBD formulation for ocular application. CBD is a poorly aqueous soluble drug. In addition, ocular drug delivery remains a difficult task due to the unique and complex anatomy, and physiology of the human eye. Accordingly, the current investigation utilized nanotechnology-based drug delivery approaches to develop three different lipid-based ophthalmic nanoformulations to overcome ocular barriers and serve as an efficient drug delivery platform for CBD. The developed formulations were evaluated for physiochemical characteristics, stability under three different storage conditions, and drug-excipient incompatibilities. Among all developed nanoformulations in this investigation, the nanoemulsion (NE) formulation, prepared with Gelucire® 50/13 and super refined sesame oil, was stable at all tested storage conditions for two months (last time point checked). The successful CBD-NE formulation showed a particle size, polydispersity index, and zeta potential of 127.1±1.0 nm, 0.12± 0.03, and -21.1±0.6 mV, respectively, with 102.6±1.5 % drug content. In addition, the CBD-NE formulation has pH and osmolality values of 5.0±0.2 and 336.7±0.6 mOsmol/kg, which were favorable for topical ocular application. Moreover, Fourier Transform Infrared spectra did not reveal any drug-excipient incompatibilities. Therefore, NE could serve as an effective delivery system to improve the ocular delivery of CBD.
Recommended Citation
Abdelrahman, Muna, "Development of Gelucire-based Ophthalmic Nanoformulations of Cannabidiol" (2023). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2470.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/2470