Non-ionic surfactants in drug delivery vehicles: Physicochemical insights with systems of drugs, Igepal CA-630, bovine serum albumin and hen egg-white lysozyme

Abstract

Most of the synthetically developed drugs are hydrophobic in nature and hence possess low bioavailability. An efficient delivery of such drugs at the specific target site requires usage of suitable drug delivery vehicles. The quantitative aspects of drug partitioning into delivery vehicles, their release and binding of target protein are crucial for developing guidelines aimed at rational drug design. We have examined the partitioning of anti-thyroid, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer drugs methimazole, naproxen, imatinib, and (s,s)-n,n′-bis(1-hydroxy-2-butyl)-ethylenediamine dihydrochloride in non-ionic self-assemblies of Igepal CA-630. The use of non-ionic surfactants in drug delivery is important because of their mild and harmless nature. The partitioning of drugs into surfactant micelles have been carried out using calorimetric and spectroscopic techniques. The quantitative details of partitioning mechanism have been investigated using parameters of their interaction such as change in Gibbs free-energy, standard molar enthalpy and entropy. These thermodynamic signatures have allowed us to develop relationships between structure-property and energetics which are very important in rational drug design. The results obtained were compared with different class of drugs having divergent nature to understand the key molecular features in the process of drug partitioning.