Pharmaceutica Analytica Acta

Abstract

A Microemulsion for the Oral Drug Delivery of Pitavastatin

Evren Gundogdu, Yucel Baspinar, Cinel Koksal, Iskender Ince and Ercument Karasulu

The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential application of a microemulsion as an oral drug delivery system for pitavastatin and to compare its in vitro cytotoxicity with a pitavastatin solution. The here developed water in oil (w/o) microemulsion system was optimized by using pseudo ternary phase diagrams, composed of span 80, Lutrol F 127, isopropyl alcohol, oleic acid and distilled water. This microemulsion was characterized according to its phase behavior, droplet size, viscosity, conductivity, refractive index and polydispersity index. The final concentration of pitavastatin in the microemulsion was 1 mg/ml. Moreover, the in vitro cytotoxicity studies were performed with Caco-2 and MCF-7 cell lines for the microemulsion and the pitavastatin solution. The in vitro cytotoxicity studies revealed no cytotoxic effect on Caco-2 and MCF-7 cells for both microemulsions, with and without pitavastatin and for the pitavastatin solutions. In conclusion, the microemulsion formulation may be used as an effective and alternative drug delivery system for the hyperlipidemic oral therapy with pitavastatin.