Preclinical Study of Ibuprofen Loaded Transnasal Mucoadhesive Microemulsion for Neuroprotective Effect in MPTP Mice Model

Ibuprofen, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), showed very promising neuroprotection action, but it suffers from high first pass metabolism and limited ability to cross blood brain barrier. Severe gastric toxicity following oral administration further limits its utility. Hence, the aim of this study was to investigate whether ibuprofen loaded mucoadhesive microemulsion (MMEI) could enhance the brain uptake and could also protect the dopaminergic neurons from MPTP-mediated neural inflammation. In this work, ibuprofen loaded polycarbophil based mucoadhesive microemulsion (MMEI) was developed by using response surface methodology (RSM). Male C57BL/6 mice were intranasally given 2.86 mg ibuprofen/kg/day for 2 consecutive weeks, which were pre-treated with four MPTP injections (20 mg/kg of body weight) at 2 h interval by intraperitoneal route and immunohistochemistry was performed. Globule size of optimal MMEI was 46.73 nm ± 3.11 with PdI value as 0.201 ± 0.19. Histological observation showed that optimal MMEI was biocompatible and suitable for nasal application. The result showed very significant effect (p < 0.05) of all three independent variables on the responses of the developed MMEI. Noticeable improvement in motor performance with spontaneous behavior was observed. TH neurons count in substantia nigra with the density of striatal dopaminergic nerve terminals after MMEI administration. Results of this study confirmed neuroprotection action of ibuprofen through intranasal MMEI against MPTP induced inflammation in dopaminergic nerves in animal model and hence, MMEI can be useful for prevention and management of Parkinson disease (PD).