{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,18]],"date-time":"2026-09-18T20:48:19Z","timestamp":1789764499923,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,18]],"date-time":"2022-05-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1652832000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions"},{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation in China"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Materials"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Migraine is a neurological disorder characterized by severe headaches, visual aversions, auditory, and olfactory disorders, accompanied by nausea and vomiting. Zolmitriptan (ZMT\u00ae) is a potent 5HT1B\/1D serotonin receptor agonist frequently used for the treatment of migraine. It has erratic absorption from the gastrointestinal tract (GIT), but its oral bioavailability is low (40\u201345%) due to the hepatic metabolism. This makes it an ideal candidate for oral fast dissolving formulations. Hence, the current study was undertaken to design and develop oral fast-dissolving films (OFDFs) containing ZMT for migraine treatment. The OFDFs were formulated by the solvent casting method (SCM) using Pullulan (PU) and maltodextrin (MDX) as film-forming agents and propylene glycol (PG) as a plasticizer. The strategy was designed using Box\u2013Behnken experimental design considering the proportion of PU:MDX and percentage of PG as independent variables. The effectiveness of the OFDF\u2019s was measured based on the following responses: drug release at five min, disintegration time (D-time), and tensile strength (TS). The influence of formulation factors, including percent elongation (%E), thickness, water content, moisture absorption, and folding endurance on ZMT-OFDFs, were also studied. The results showed a successful fabrication of stable ZMT-OFDFs, with surface uniformity and amorphous shape of ZMT in fabricated films. The optimized formulation showed a remarkable rapid dissolution, over 90% within the first 5 min, a fast D-time of 18 s, and excellent mechanical characteristics. Improved maximum plasma concentration (C max) and area under the curve (AUC 0\u2013t) in animals (rats) treated with ZMT-OFDFs compared to those treated with an intra-gastric (i-g) suspension of ZMT were also observed. Copolymer OFDFs with ZMT is an exciting proposition with great potential for the treatment of migraine headache. This study offers a promising strategy for developing ZMT-OFDFs using SCM. ZMT-OFDFs showed remarkable rapid dissolution and fast D-time, which might endeavor ZMT-OFDFs as an auspicious alternative approach to improve patient compliance and shorten the onset time of ZMT in migraine treatment.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ma15103591","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,18]],"date-time":"2022-05-18T11:59:37Z","timestamp":1652875177000},"page":"3591","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":22,"title":["Development and Characterizations of Pullulan and Maltodextrin-Based Oral Fast-Dissolving Films Employing a Box\u2013Behnken Experimental Design"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Kiramat Ali","family":"Shah","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Binbin","family":"Gao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Molecular and Cellular Therapeutics, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), D02YN77 Dublin, Ireland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Robia","family":"Kamal","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Anam","family":"Razzaq","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sun","family":"Qi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qiu-Ning","family":"Zhu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Song","family":"Lina","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Linyu","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Grainne","family":"Cremin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Molecular and Cellular Therapeutics, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), D02YN77 Dublin, Ireland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7908-8804","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Haroon","family":"Iqbal","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Cancer Hospital of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Zhejiang Cancer Hospital), Institute of Basic Medicine and Cancer (IBMC), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hangzhou 310022, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0258-7322","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Farid","family":"Menaa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine and Nanomedicine, California Innovations Corporation, San Diego, CA 92037, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jing-Hao","family":"Cui","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"193","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1468-2982.2007.01288.x","article-title":"The global burden of headache: A documentation of headache prevalence and disability worldwide","volume":"27","author":"Stovner","year":"2007","journal-title":"Cephalalgia"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"238","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jddst.2015.08.003","article-title":"Formulation and evaluation of thermoreversible mucoadhesive in-situ gel for intranasal delivery of naratriptan hydrochloride","volume":"29","author":"Shelke","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. 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