Clinical Pharmacology & Biopharmaceutics
Open Access

Abstract

Metformin, a prominently prescribed antihyperglycemic agent has been proven to increase life span of both diabetic and nondiabetic individuals. It decreases glucose production and absorption and increases body’s response to insulin. However, it is slowly and incompletely absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract and it has a low permeability. It is available in oral tablet and it takes 6 hours for the drug to be completely absorbed. It is taken 2 to 3 times a day as a maintenance drug, depending on patient’s condition. Gastrointestinal side effects have also been reported in nearly 30% of patients. With these impediments, different drug delivery systems have been developed. The use of transfersomes in transdermal patch offers the potential advantage of improving the bioavailability of the drug. Metformin transfersome vesicles were prepared using sodium cholate and phosphatidylcholine 50% and its particle size was 168 nm. Drug entrapment efficiency was determined using HPLC and it was found to be 94.96%. Plasma concentration of metformin in hyperglycemic-induced rabbits treated with metformin transfersome patch was significantly higher than controls (p=0.001). The post treatment glucose level of hyperglycemia-induced rabbits applied with metformin transfersome patch (p=0.002) showed significant decrease in glucose level relative to untreated alloxan-induced hyperglycemic rabbits. The study showed that metformin transfersome vesicles in transdermal patch delivery provide enhanced antihyperglycemic effect and bioavailability over metformin transdermal patch.

Biography

Email: meah.pacheco@yahoo.com.ph