In-Vitro Dissolution and Characterization of Self-Emulsifying Drug Delivery System of Artemisinin for Oral Delivery

Artemisinin is a compound extracted from Artemisia Annua. Artemisinin is used globally as the first-line antimalarial drug. Despite its high efficacy against the malaria parasite, artemisinin has low bioavailability because it has low solubility in water. This present study was conducted to prepare and characterize the self-emulsifying drug delivery system of artemisinin to increase the dissolution profile of artemisinin. The stability of the resulting emulsion was observed visually for 6 hours. Droplet size, polydispersity index, and zeta potential of the emulsion were measured using Nano Particle Analyzer. The optimum formulation was evaluated with the dissolution test and compared with the artemisinin crystal. Several formulations have good stability of the resulting emulsions where no creaming or flocculation was formed during the observation. Droplet sizes of the resulting emulsions ranged from 114.17-247.93 nm and the polydispersity index of the emulsions ranged from 0.35- 0.56. Zeta potential values of the selected formulations were found in the range of -23.23 - -2.33 mV. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy spectra of self-emulsifying drug delivery system showed the presence of artemisinin in the formulation with lactone and peroxide peaks. The dissolution of artemisinin in the self-emulsifying drug delivery system was significantly increased compared to artemisinin crystal. Artemisinin was released up to 98,6 %in 150 minutes in self-emulsifying drug delivery system formulation.