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Improvement in Bioavailability and Pharmacokinetic Characteristics of Efavirenz with Booster Dose of Ritonavir in PEGylated PAMAM G4 Dendrimers

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  • Theme: Recent Advances on Drug Delivery Systems for Viral Infections
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Abstract

Efavirenz (EFV) with a booster dose of ritonavir (RTV) (EFV-RTV) inhibits the metabolism of EFV and improves its bioavailability. However, inadequate organ perfusion with surface permeability glycoprotein (P-gp) efflux sustains the viable HIV. Hence, the present investigations were aimed to evaluate the pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution efficiency of EFV by encapsulating it into PEGyalated PAMAM (polyamidoamine) G4 dendrimers with a booster dose of RTV (PPG4ER). The entrapment efficiency of PEGylated PAMAM G4 dendrimers was found to be 94% and 92.12% for EFV and RTV respectively with a zeta potential of 0.277 mV. The pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution behavior of EFV within PPG4ER was determined by developing and validating a simple, sensitive, and reliable bioanalytical method of RP-HPLC. The developed bioanalytical method was very sensitive with a quantification limit of 18.5 ng/ml and 139.2 ng/ml for EFV and RTV, respectively. The comparative noncompartmental pharmacokinetic parameters of EFV were determined by administrating a single intraperitoneal dose of EFV, EFV-RTV, and PPG4ER to Wistar rats. The PPG4ER produced prolonged release of EFV with a mean residential time (MRT) of 24 h with Cmax 7.68 µg/ml in plasma against EFV-RTV with MRT 11 h and Cmax 3.633 µg/ml. The PPG4ER was also detected in viral reservoir tissues (lymph node and spleen) for 3–4 days, whereas free EFV and EFV-RTV were cleared within 72 h. The pharmacokinetic data including Cmax, t1/2, AUCtot, and MRT were significantly improved in PPG4ER as compared with single EFV and EFV-RTV. This reveals that the PPG4ER has great potential to target the virus harbors tissues and improve bioavailability.

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  1. Dadasaheb Balpande College of Pharmacy, Besa, Nagpur, Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University, Nagpur, (MS), 440037, India

    Rohini Kharwade, Sachin More, Elizabeth Suresh, Amol Warokar, Nilesh Mahajan & Ujwala Mahajan

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  1. Rohini Kharwade
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Contributions

Rohini Kharwade and Elizabeth Suresh completed experimental works and drafted the manuscript. Dr. Amol Warokar and Sachin More gave supporting investigation and discussion in a pharmacokinetic study. Dr. Nilesh Mahajan gave productive suggestions and experimental instruction and Dr. Ujwala Mahajan supervised.

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Correspondence to Rohini Kharwade.

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Kharwade, R., More, S., Suresh, E. et al. Improvement in Bioavailability and Pharmacokinetic Characteristics of Efavirenz with Booster Dose of Ritonavir in PEGylated PAMAM G4 Dendrimers. AAPS PharmSciTech 23, 177 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1208/s12249-022-02315-8

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