ABSTRACT:
Aim of the study: The purpose of the study was to formulate and develop mucoadhesive in situ gel of Tapentadol hydrochloride for nasal administration and to evaluate it for physicochemical properties like gel strength, mucoadhesion, drug release rate. Materials and Methods: The insitu gel of Tapentadol was subjected to FT-IR and DSC analysis and compared with that of the pure drug to assess drug excipient interaction. The optimized in situ gel was further subjected for stability studies. Result: The optimized mucoadhesive in situ gel prepared using combination of Tapentadol HCL with mucoadhesive polymer carbopol 934-P and Gellan-gum showed effective gelation viscosity, gel strength, drug release properties along with good mucoadhesive strength. The drug release mechanism of the gel matrices was found to be anomalous and following the Higuchi equation. Conclusion: The observations indicated that there was no remarkable damage to the nasal mucosa so it seems to be safe for preclinical use. The optimized formulation also retained good stability at accelerated conditions over the period of 30 days. So it is good alternative for effective delivery of the drug for the nasal route which would definitely useful for neuronal pain.