The Faculty of Pharmacy discussed the PhD’s dissertation tagged” Study of Formulation Variables Related to Preparation of Lipid-Polymer Hybrid Nanoparticles Incorporated in Dissolvable Transdermal Microneedles Using Rasagiline Mesylate as A model Drug ” by Basam Wafaa Mahdi and the supervisor, Professor Dr. Ahmed Abbas Hussein, in the Pharmaceutics Department. The dissertation aimed to prepare polymeric nanoparticles and then incorporate them into a polymeric microneedle to enhance permeability for passing through the skin and avoiding hepatic metabolism, which will increase its bioavailability, in addition to controlling its release using Rasagiline as a model. Two types of polymers were used: polycaprolactone using the nano-precipitation method, and chitosan using the ionic gelation method. In both methods, lipid coating was studied in addition to other factors to analyze its effect on the formulation. Microneedles were prepared using different percents of different polymers (PVP, PVA, and chitosan) and evaluated by visual and microscopic examination, along with other evaluation tests such as mechanical properties and permeability in the skin, drug content and thickness uniformity, and the study of skin permeability using human abdominal skin. The results proved that the best formula for preparing rasagiline nanoparticles was by using chitosan with the ion gelation method to produce small particles with high stability and compatibility of components and that the micro-molding method for preparing the microneedle is an easy, simple, and reproducible method.
