Articles

Design and Optimizing of Metformin and 5-Fluorouracil Co-Loaded Nano Spheres by Box-Behnken Experimental Design for the Treatment of Colorectal Cancer

Aim and objective of the study was to design and optimize metformin and 5-Fluorouracil drug molecules co-loaded with chitosan biodegradable polymer Nano-spheres for effectively targeting colorectal cancer cells in chemically induced colorectal cancer models. The metformin and 5- fluorouracil loaded chitosan nanoparticles were formulated by ionotropic crosslinking method. Experimental design consisted of three independent variables: chitosan, tripolyphosphate and stirring speed and three dependent variables: particle size, entrapment efficiency and drug release using Box-Behnken experimental design. Response surface modelling and the ability to fit to the model were evaluated with Design-Expert® software (Version 12). The optimized formulation by the design software indicated 1.33% of chitosan, 0.715 % of TPP at a Stirring speed of 3383 rpm is recommend to achieve a desirability value of 0.813 to have an acceptable range of 0.8 to 1, suggesting that the formulation quality is acceptable and excellent.