Spectral Monitoring of Naftifine Immobilization into Submicron Vaterite Particles

Development of novel drug delivery systems providing the enhanced accumulation of the therapeutic agents in the area of pathology reducing in the meantime the systemic toxic effects is of great research interest. Here we introduce the study on the antifungal drug “Naftifine” immobilization into the particulate delivery system based on vaterite submicron particles. Two different techniques are proposed for the antimycotic incorporation: adsorption onto the surface of freshly-prepared vaterite particles from the drug solution and co-precipitation of the drug molecules during the particle synthesis. Various optical methods were used to investigate the immobilization process. Thus, laser Raman spectroscopy was used to confirm the successful carrier loading with naftifin hydrochloride. A spectrofluorimetric method was applied for the quantitative determination of the drug loading efficiency into vaterite matrix. The study revealed that the co-precipitation technique allows the immobilization of the highest antimycotic percentage (9 wt %). Scanning electron microscopy was used to monitor the stability of the naftifin-loaded carriers under their incubation in deionized water, saline and cell culture medium. The slowdown of vaterite recrystallization process was observed for the protein-containing medium. Such effect holds out the prospect of drug release prolongation for the future application of the proposed carries in living systems.