In this study, nanosuspensions of pectin were prepared by combination of antisolvent precipitation and homogenization technique containing curcumin as a model drug. Three different batches were prepared having different concentration of pectin (0.075 % - 0.30 %) The aim of this study is to increase the solubility of drug by reducing the particles size and converting the liquid into solid formulation. The pectin-curcumin (PC) nanosuspension was lyophilized and encapsulated in capsule shell. The PC nanosuspensions so formed were characterized by PSA (particle size analysis), PDI (polydispersibility index), Drug content, percent entrapment efficiency, TEM (Transmission electron microscopy), DSC (Differential scanning calorimetry), XRD (X –ray diffraction) and FTIR studies and further evaluated for weight variation, disintegration and in-vitro release study. Stability studies were also performed for a period of 60 days at three different temperatures (4℃, RT and 40℃). The PC nanosuspension was found to contain particles with mean particle size (141 nm -143 nm) with PDI (0.35±0.67 – 0.471±0.21), having percent entrapment efficiency (80.25±2.03% to 90.04±2.05%) and percent total drug content (91.35±0.98 to 95.51 ± 1.44). TEM revealed that PC nanosuspension contain discrete, spherical, uniformly distributed particles. XRD and DSC indicated crystalline nature of curcumin. In-vitro release study of liquid nanosuspension and dried capsule filled nanosuspension was carried out in phosphate buffer (pH 7.4) showing drug release up to 24 h. The release kinetics was found to be fitted best into Higuchi’s square root release kinetics model with value of n <0.45 indicating the mechanism of release being diffusion.
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