Intranasal route using novel polymeric nanoparticles as possible delivery strategy of drugs to alleviate Alzheimer’s disease / Marsita Abd Razak

Memantine (MEM) is a NMDA receptor antagonist that has been demonstrated to be effective in the treatment of patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) does not across the blood brain barrier (BBB) readily. This work attempted to improve the brain targeting efficiency of MEM by encapsulating the drug in the novel cross linked itaconic acid-nvinylcaprolactam- polyethylene glycol (INP) nanoparticles. A novel INP nanoparticle as a carrier for MEM was formulated using the aqueous dispersion polymerization method (ADP). MEM was loaded in the polymer nanoparticles by remote loading method. MEM loaded polymeric nanoparticles were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Particles size and surface charge on the polymeric nanoparticles were evaluated by Zetasizer. WAXD analysis revealed an amorphous nature of the blend polymeric nanoparticles; probably due to the increased composition of itaconic acid (IA). MEM was completely dispersed at the molecular level in the polymer nanoparticles. The blank nanoparticles showed uniform spherical nanoparticles with size ranging from 80 - 180 nm.