Ubaidulla U et al / Int. J. of Res. in Pharmacology & Pharmacotherapeutics Vol-7(3) 2018 [205-221] www.ijrpp.com ~ 205~ ISSN Print: 2278-2648 IJRPP |Vol.7 | Issue 2 | July - Sep - 2018 ISSN Online: 2278-2656 Journal Home page: www.ijrpp.com Research article Open Access Optimization of cytarabine loaded nanocochleates for targeting LEUKEMIA by response surface methodology Niranjana Vaidhya Anantharaman 1 , Ubaidulla Udhumansha 2 *, Grace Rathnam 3 Department of Pharmaceutics, C. L. Baid Metha College of Pharmacy, Thoraipakkam, Chennai-97. *Corresponding author: Dr. U. Ubaidulla Email: ubaidnkl@gmail.com ABSTRACT The main approach of the Nanocochleates is to target the cancer cells for the effective treatment against leukemia. Nanocochleate is more stable than any other drug carriers such as Liposomes, Niosomes, Nanoparticles and Nanoliposomes. Nanocochleate drug delivery is most effective in case of both hydrophilic and hydrophobic drugs. Cytarabine is used for the leukemic treatment since long time and its pharmacological effect is well established for the nanocochleate preparation, as it is suitable for the formulation: by increasing the half-life, to avoid getting converted to inactive metabolite by intestinal enzymes, increases the permeability, reduces the dose etc. The storage and release of the conventional dosage form was affected by environmental factors as it can be overcome by the nanocochleates. Nanocochleates are prepared by using the various cross-linking agent like, calcium chloride, zinc chloride and chitosan. The Nanocochleates is optimized by the Response surface methodology using a Box and Behnken’s design, as it allows the determination of various factors on nanocochleates properties with a minimum number of experiments. The drug loaded Nanocochleates was prepared with high entrapment efficiency and prolonged drug release. From the results it can be concluded that the novel Nanocochleates drug delivery system has a promising carrier for treatment of leukemia. Keywords: Nanocochleates, Cytarabine, Cross-linkers, Controlled drug delivery, Target delivery. INTRODUCTION Nanocochleate (NC) delivery vehicles are stable phospholipid-cation precipitates composed of simple, naturally occurring materials, generally phosphatidylserine and calcium. They have a unique multilayered structure consisting of a solid, lipid bilayer sheet rolled up in a spiral or in stacked sheets, with little or no internal aqueous space [1]. Nanocochleates are derived from liposomes by trapping method. The liposomes have the lipid layer with the negative charge, on combination with the positively charged cations forms the Nanocochleates. They have the potential for slow or timed release of the biologic molecule in-vivo as nanocochleates slowly unwind or otherwise dissociate. Cytarabine, a synthetic pyrimidine nucleoside, is converted intracellularly, primarily by deoxycytidine kinase, to active cytarabine arabinoside triphosphate. This metabolite then damages DNA by multiple International Journal of Research in Pharmacology & Pharmacotherapeutics