Drug Targeting to Lungs by Way of Microspheres

In many conventional drug delivery systems in vogue, failure to deliver efficient drug delivery at the target site/organs; is evident as a result, less efficacious pharmacological response is elicited. Microspheres can be derived a remedial measure which can improve site-specific drug delivery to a considerable extent. As an application, Lung-targeting Ofloxacin-loaded gelatin microspheres (GLOME) were prepared by water in oil emulsion method. The Central Composite Design (CCD) was used to optimize the process of preparation, the appearance and size distribution were examined by scanning electron microscopy, the aspects such as in vitro release characteristics, stability, drug loading, loading efficiency, pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution in albino mice were studied. The experimental results showed that the microspheres in the range of $0.32-22\;{\mu}m$. The drug loading and loading efficiency were 61.05 and 91.55% respectively. The in vitro release profile of the microspheres matched the korsmeyer’s peppas release pattern, and release at 1h was 42%, while for the original drug, ofloxacin under the same conditions 90.02% released in the first half an hour. After i.v. administration (15 min), the drug concentration of microspheres group in lung in albino mice was $1048\;{\mu}g/g$, while that of controlled group was $6.77\;{\mu}g/g$. GLOME found to release the drug to a maximum extent in the target tissue, lungs.