Development of thermoreversible in situ Nasal Gel using chitosan as a mucoadhesive agent for prophylaxis of migraine

The aim of the current study was to formulate and characterise thermoreversible in situ nasal gels of flunarizine dihydrochloride (FDCL) for prophylaxis of migraine. FDCL was complexed with β-cy-clodextrin (1:1 ratio) to enhance its solubility. A mucoadhesive polymer, chitosan was used to increase nasal residence time of the drug. Gels were formulated by cold technique using poloxamer 188 and poloxamer 407. Drug content was determined before and after gelation. Optimised formulation exhibited 89.41% of in vitro drug release at the end of 6 h. In vitro release kinetics results demonstrated that all the prepared formulations released the drug by following first-order kinetics. Short term stability study revealed 5 ± 3 °C as the appropriate storage condition for the formulations. Thus, the study proved that thermoreversible in situ nasal gel of FDCL with mucoadhesive agent could be a promising initiative for the treatment of migraine.