Comparative evaluation of electrospraying and lyophilization techniques on solid state properties of Erlotinib nanocrystals: Assessment of In-vitro cytotoxicity.

Introduction: Erlotinib is a well known FDA approved drug from category of tyrosine kinase inhibitors; used for the treatment of lung cancer. However its use is limited because of its poor water solubility.

Objective: The aim of present work was to improve solubility by developing a stable nanocrystal based drug delivery system of ERL with the aid of sodium lauryl sulfate as potential stabilizer and to carry out comparative evaluation of electrospraying and lyophilization as solidification techniques on its solid state properties.

Experimental: Nanocrystal formulation was developed with antisolvent precipitation method having particle size, polydispersity index and zetapotential of 232.4±4.3nm, 0.162 and -9.82mV respectively. Further comparative evaluation of lyophilization and electrospraying was commenced as potential solidification techniques and solid powder matrix obtained from both the solidification techniques were compared in terms of size after re-dispersion (260±4.8 and 329±5.2nm respectively), particle morphology, surface area (0.984±0.11 and 0.341±0.05m/g respectively), pore volume (0.0014 and 0.0009cc/g respectively), solid state of drug present and % drug release (~100% and ~78% respectively in 600min). In vitro cytotoxicity studies shared that obtained formulation was having reduced IC50 values in comparison to drug. Further intracellular reactive oxygen species production was found to be higher for formulation treated cells when compared to free drug. Overall developed formulation was found to be potential drug delivery system for lung cancer therapy.