Azithromycin: Essential oil based nanoemulsion drug delivery system

Azithromycin has a substantial potency against both gram-positive and gram-negative organisms due to the presence of a nitrogen atom in its ring. Due to bulky nature of the drug, it has limitations in the porin pathway and a very low bioavailability. Hence, we tried to work on a novel cinnamon oil based nanoemulsion drug delivery system for azithromycin using sonication technique at laboratory scale. Cinnamon oil, tween 80 and water were prepared at a ratio of 6:18:76 v/v to produce fine droplets in the range of 68.39 ± 2.19 nm after a sonication period of 30 min. Also, the polydispersity index confers better stability of the system as it recorded a lower value. Cinnamon oil was mainly chosen as it enhances the solubility to greater extent in azithromycin as it is highly lipophilic in nature. Moreover, the surfactant concentration was reduced greatly compared to other microemulsion systems. Hence, this system would be more efficient with mild or no toxic effects.