Microemulsion for Simulataneous Intransal Delivery of Carbamazepine and Vitamin B6 for Treatment of Epilepsy

Background: Status epilepsy is a neurological emergency characterized by severe bouts of seizure. It has been reported that combination of antiepileptic drug with Vitamin supplements reduce the drug resistance and rapid improvement was also observed in epilepsy patients. In this study, we tried to develop novel intranasal microemulsion for simultaneous delivery of carbamazepine and Vitamin B6 for treatment of epilepsy. Materials and Methods: For simultaneous estimation of Carbamazepine and Vitamin B6 , second derivative spectroscopy method was developed and validated. The ME containing CBZ, in lipophilic phase and Vitamin B6 in aqueous phase was studied for physicochemical characters and ex vivo diffusion through sheep nasal mucosa. The maximal electroshock (MES)induced seizure models was used to establish the pharmacodynamic credentials of the microemulsion. Results: The wavelength selected for Carbamazepine and Vitamin B6 were 231 nm and 250 nm respectively. It was found that prepared microemulsion is stable with globule size of 395+12 nm. Diffusion across sheep nasal mucosa followed zero order kinetics for carbamazepine and Vitamin B6 in the prepared microemulsion. It was found that the hind limb extension time and the recovery time were significantly different from control group (p<0.05). The microemulsion remained stable after dilution, centrifugation and freeze thaw cycle as tested for particle size, zeta potential and percentage transmission. Conclusion: The proposed microemulsion should form the basis for treatment of epilepsy which warrants co-administration of micronutrients.