Conventional chemotherapy for the treatment of intracellular infections is not effective, due to limited permeation of drugs into cells. This can be overcome by use of vesicular drug delivery systems. Encapsulation of a drug in vesicular structures can be predicted to prolong the existence of the drug in systemic circulation, and perhaps, reduces the toxicity if selective uptake can be achieved. Proniosomes are dry powder formulations containing surfactant coated carrier that are reconstituted with suitable diluents for injections. Proniosomes powder with lipid mixture having drug, surfactant and cholesterol was coated over maltodextrin carrier by rotary flash evaporator. An anti-neoplastic drug methotrexate was used as model drug. The prepared proniosome powder was evaluated for physical properties such as angle of repose, carr’s index and Hausner’s ratio. The rehydration characteristics of the powder were studied by measuring degree of spontaneity and effect of osmotic shock. The niosome dispersion produced by the reconstitution of the powder was evaluated for entrapment efficiency, invitro drug release studies and stability studies. The best formulation was further characterized by performing fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies.

Keywords: Proniosomes, rehydration characteristics, spontaneity, in vitro drug release