Synthesis and evaluation of hydroponically alginate nanoparticles as novel carrier for intravenous delivery of propofol

Commercial lipid emulsion of propofol (CLE) has several drawbacks including pain on injection and emulsion instability. In this paper, a novel nanocarrier system is introduced to improve stability and solubility of the poorly soluble anesthetic drug, propofol, for intravenous administration. In this paper, alginate is modified using a facile method in which the carboxylic group of alginate is grafted to octanol. The octanol-grafted alginate (Alg-C8) is then employed to prepare nanoparticles which are subsequently used for encapsulation of propofol. The nanoparticles are analyzed for their pH, osmolarity, particle size, stability, morphology and sleep recovery and the results are compared with CLE as control. It is revealed that nanoparticles have the average particle size of 180 nm +/- 1.2 and spherical morphology which is less than CLE while their pH, osmolarity and profile of release of formulated nanoparticles are similar to those of CLE. In addition, the results show good chemical and physical storage stability for the nanoparticles at room temperature for at least 6 months compared to CLE as control. The animal sleep recovery test on rats shows no significant difference in time of unconsciousness and recovery of the righting reflex between nanoparticles and CLE. It is concluded that encapsulated nanoparticles introduced here could be a promising clinical intravenous system for delivery of poorly soluble anesthetic propofol. In addition, this study provides an efficient and facile method for preparing a carrier system for water insoluble drugs.