Abstract:
Virosome technology presents a versatile carrier system with application extending in different
fields of biomedical research. It has the potential to overcome major challenges of delivering
therapeutically effective quantities of biological molecules to the targeted site. These
reconstituted viral envelops not only guarantee targeted delivery but also ensure the protection
and stability of the active biomolecules under different physiological conditions. On the bases of
the success of virosome technology as delivering agent, the present study was designed to
develop virosome containing drug and assess its toxicity as well as the efficacy. Influenza virus
envelops were reconstituted along with the entrapment of drug (salbutamol sulphate) by the
optimized protocol. Drug entrapment efficiency of these vesicles was calculated to be 84.95%
and it was found that the drug levels were sustained in the samples for 96 hours. The toxicity of
these vesicles was assessed in BALB/c mice. During toxicity assessment, no apparent signs of
toxicity were seen physically. Moreover histology images of the lungs, liver, kidneys and spleen
showed no difference when compared with the healthy tissue slides. The second part of the study
was related to the development of asthma model with ovalbumin and alum in order to check the
efficacy. Effects of drug encapsulating virosomes were analyzed and compared with the free
drug and liposome using these diseased models. Different tests such as injection of β-blocker
(Labetalol), differential leukocyte count, eosinophil count and challenge with the cigarette smoke
proved the successful development of asthma model. The diseased models were then given the
treatment of virosome, drug and liposome. By assessing the weight trends, pre-convulsion time
and histology images it was found that the virosome showed comparable results with free drug
and liposomes. The pre-convulsion time periods recorded for the virosome treated group showed the prolonged effect of the drug. The ease of the preparation of virosomes with encapsulated drug and the favorable results related to the toxicity and efficacy, provides a positive opportunity for increasing the half live and bioavailability of different drugs.
