Studies on Pomegranate seed oil enriched Galantamine Hydrobromide microemulsion: formulation, in vitro antioxidant and neuroprotective potential.

Pomegranate seed oil with its high levels of phenolic compounds are known to exhibit neuroprotective effects. Delivering hydrophilic drugs to the brain is challenging since blood brain barrier allows only a few lipophilic molecules into the brain, thus posing an additional barrier for drug delivery to the brain in conditions like Alzheimer's. The present study focuses on the preparation of the stable galantamine hydrobromide (GHBr) microemulsion (ME) using pomegranate seed oil (PSO) as an adjuvant. The developed ME was characterized for various physicochemical properties, cytotoxicity, and protective role against Amyloid Beta (1-42) oligomer induced toxicity in IMR 32 cell line. GHBr and PSO ratio was optimized based on in-vitro diffusion study and compatibility study using DSC and FTIR. The ME was prepared by water titration method and optimized using one variable at a time (OVAT) strategy. Globule size and PDI of GHBr PSO ME was found to be 200.36 ± 0.01 nm, and 0.219 ± 0.011 nm respectively. GHBr PSO ME showed significantly better results in terms of cell line toxicity, antioxidant activity and protective effect against Aβ induced cell death. The results obtained showed the potential of using PSO as an effective synergistic agent along with the anti-Alzheimer's drug for treatment of disease.