Application of central composite experimental design for the formulation and optimization of meropenem loaded chitosan-alginate nanoparticles

Abstract

Meropenem loaded chitosan-alginate nanoparticles were fabricated using aqueous sodium alginate solution and ionotropic gelation with calcium chloride and chitosan using an optimized formulation derived from a central composite design. The fabricated Mer-CS/Alg NPs were characterized for their particle size, zeta potential, encapsulation efficiency, and loading capacity. The central composite design has been used to adequately assess the influence of two factors namely meropenem concentration and Alg/CS mass ratio on the responses based on a limited number of 13 triplicate formulation runs. This study successfully formulated meropenem-loaded chitosan/alginate nanoparticles. The optimal formulation of the Mer-CS/Alg NPs was 1.7 mg/mL curcumin, and a Alg/CS mass ratio of 9.8:1. Based on the predicted values of the response variable, the optimal formulation would have a particle size of 490.64 nm, zeta potential of -28.59 mV and a loading capacity of 76.89%. These set of characteristics indicate that adequately sized, stable, and high drug containing nanoparticle can be prepared using meropenem and chitosan/alginate polymer solution.