Nanosponges

Murraya koenigi is a medium sized tree belonging to the family Rutaceae. The major constituents present in the Murraya koenigii leaves treat burns, bruises. Ayurveda is a traditional Indian medicinal system practiced for thousands of years. Natural remedies are more acceptable in the faith that they are safer with less side effects than the synthetic ones. The novel formulations are reported to have remarkable advantages over conventional formulations of plant actives and extracts which include enhancement of solubility, bioavailability, protection from toxicity, enhancement of pharmacological activity, enhancement of stability, improved tissue macrophages distribution, sustained delivery and protection from physical and chemical degradation. Our main purpose is to treat/heal wound at faster rate with minimum side effects. Nanosponges alone are difficult to use on local tissues because they diffuse away to other parts of the body very quickly so to overcome the drawback we combined nanosponges with the herbal extract of Murraya Koenigii. According to literature survey it was found that etanolic and aqueous extract shows good wound healing results. Research on curry leaves revealed that they are also effective in fighting bacterial and fungal infections. The leaf extracts from the plant have been comparable to popular main stream antibiotic drugs. During this research work, we prepared ethanolic extract of Murraya Koenigii leaves and prepared nanosponges from it for treating burn wound. The nanosponges are prepared by Quasi emulsion solvent diffusion method. The prepared nanosponges were evaluated for various in-vitro parameters and the results obtained were satisfactory.

The development of nanoscience and its various technologies has tremendously helped to develop many dosage forms for various complicated diseases. This is a unique technology for the drug delivery containing micro porous beads loaded with drug material inside them. The nano sponge like materials are produced in order to improve the targeting characteristic along with a comfort to diminish the treats of ailments by using  mostly available drugs and their by helping to prevent most of the drug-protein degradation in the body. The development of these tiny discrete, porous and a colloidal mesh structure called as ‘nanosponges’ are preferable for topical, oral, inhalational deliveries. They are very small micronized structures of less than 1 µm. They act like a controlled and targeted material with an ease formulation and have a maximum stability. These micro molecules are synthesized from water soluble and bio erodible polymers. This tiny structure can stick, adhered or localizes to specific target receptors to produce controlled response. These materials must be focused in future and is a well promising material to be used in pharmaceutical sector. Their performance to entrap drugs or even to become complex for a desired release onto the site of action within a specific time without alteration in temperature is an advantage. In this review a brief summary of sponges with the introduction, advantages, disadvantages, preparation, loading, evaluation, and conclusion are discussed with a motto to include them in future drug developments.

In targeted drug delivery to specific sites is significant problem which is being faced by many researchers. The development of new and complex molecules nanosponges have potential to solve these problem. Nanosponges are tiny sponges with a size of about a virus. Which can be filled with a wide variety of drugs and complex molecules. These tiny sponges can circulate around the body until they encounter the specific target site and stick on the surface and begin to release the drugs in a controlled and predictable manner. Because nanosponges play a vital role in targeting drug delivery in a controlled released rate. Nanosponges is a novel and emerging technology which offers targeted and controlled drug delivery for topical as well as oral use. A large variety of substances or drugs can be encapsulated in to the wide cavities of nanosponges. Another important features of these nanosponges is their water soluble. The nanosponges carrying both lipophilic and hydrophilic substances and mostly improving the solubility of poorly water soluble drugs. In this review article application of nanosponges, method of preparation, evaluation parameter and added recent patent have been discussed.