Preclinical efficacy of oral and nasal rivastigmine-loaded chitosan nano-particles on AlCl3-induced Alzheimer’s-like disease in rats

The successful treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is still a big challenge. Rivastigmine is one of the most used drugs for the treatment of AD. The short half-life, lower bioavailability, and less concentration of the drug in the brain after oral delivery are considered the main drawbacks of rivastigmine. To improve these drawbacks, nanostructure-mediated drug delivery has gained more attention. This study investigates the effect of rivastigmine-loaded in optimized chitosan nano-particles (RS-CSNPs) as polymeric nano-carriers by different administration routes (oral and intranasal) on aluminum chloride (AlCl₃)-induced Alzheimer-like disease in rat. The model was established by giving rats 100 mg/kg/b.wt of AlCl₃ orally for 3 months. Then the experimental rats were treated with RS-CSNPs either orally or intranasally for 75 days. Histopathology, immunohistochemistry of Tau expression in brain tissue, and gene expression of Caspase-3, NF-κB, and Nrf-2 were carried out. The therapeutic agents used decreased the alterations observed in AlCl₃ group with improvement in the neuronal viability. In addition to low expression of tau protein, down-regulation of caspase-3 and NF-κB genes and up-regulation of Nrf-2. RS-CSNPs alleviated the progression of AD presumably via blocking the inflammatory cascade and decreasing the oxidative stress process. The intranasal route is superior to the oral one and promising in AD management.