Quantitative analysis of safranal in saffron extract and nanoparticle formulation by a validated high-performance thin-layer chromatographic method
2010
Pathan, Shadab Ahmad | Alam, Sanjar | Jain, Gaurav K. | Zaidi, Syed M.A. | Akhter, Sohail | Vohora, Divya | Khar, Roop K. | Ahmad, Farhan J.
Introduction - Safranal is an effective anticonvulsant shown to act as an agonist at GABAA receptors. Nose to brain delivery via nanoparticle formulation might improve its brain delivery. A selective and sensitive analytical method is required for evaluation of safranal-based novel drug delivery systems.Objective - To develop and validate a high-performance thin-layer chromatographic (HPTLC) method for the quantitative analysis of safranal as bulk, in saffron extract and in developed safranal-loaded nanoparticle formulation.Methodology - Chromatographic separation was achieved on silica gel pre-coated TLC aluminium plates 60F-254, using n-hexane:ethyl acetate (9 : 1, v/v) as the mobile phase. Quantitative analysis was carried out by densitometry at a wavelength of 310 nm. The method was validated and applied to detect related impurities, to analyse safranal in saffron extract and to evaluate safranal-loaded nanoparticles.Results - Compact spots of safranal were observed at Rf value 0.51 ± 0.02. The method was linear (r = 0.9991) between 0.5 and 5.0 μg/spot. The intra- and inter-day precisions were 1.08-2.17 and 1. 86-3.47%, respectively. The limit of detection was 50 ng/spot and the limit of quantification was 150 ng/spot. The method proved to be accurate (recovery 97.4-102.0%) and was selective for safranal. Evaluation of safranal-loaded nanoparticle formulation demonstrated drug loading of 23.0%, encapsulation efficiency of 42.0% and sustained drug release following biphasic pattern.Conclusion - The present method is useful for the quantitative and qualitative analysis of safranal and safranal-loaded nanoparticle formulation. It provides significant advantages in terms of greater specificity and rapid analysis.
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