Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) is an approved drug for the management of relapsing multiple sclerosis. Despite efficacy, DMF is also reported to be a challenging drug owing to concerns like gastrointestinal tract flushing, multiple dosing, lower brain permeability, less patient compliance, and economic hurdles. The present study aims to develop DMF-tocopherol acetate nanolipidic carrier (NLCs) to enhance brain permeability and improve the gastric tolerance. The developed DMF-tocopherol acetate NLCs offered an average size of 69.70 nm, PDI of 0.317, and a zeta potential of -9.71 mV. Higher drug entrapment (90.12%) and drug loading (20.13%) assured controlled drug release behavior both in gastric and intestinal pH. Cellular uptake studies on Caco-2 and SH-SY5Y monolayers confirmed better intestinal absorption and neuronal uptake of the developed system, which was further corroborated by the pharmacokinetic and biodistribution studies. The oral bioavailability was enhanced by 4.09 times and brain availability was substantially improved vis-à-vis plain drug. The findings are promising and offer preclinical evidence for better brain availability of DMF, which can be exploited in the better management of diseases like multiple sclerosis.
Keywords: Caco-2; NLCs; SH-SY5Y; SLNs; confocal laser scanning microscopy; drug delivery; vitamin E.