HPLC Method Validated for Quantification of Fluconazole Co-Encapsulated with Propolis Within Chitosan Nanoparticles

Considering the cases of fungal resistance to classic antifungals, it is necessary to develop more efficient and innovative therapies capable of reversing this situation. Fluconazole is an antifungal frequently used in the treatment of mycosis and some fungi developed resistance to its mechanism of action. In this work, fluconazole and green propolis were co-encapsulated in chitosan nanoparticles to be explored in order to promote a synergistic effect to enhance its therapeutic efficacy. However, because of the complexity of the chemical composition of green propolis, it was necessary to develop a simple and precise methodology to quantify fluconazole in the formulation. High Efficiency Liquid Chromatography methodology was developed and validated following the Brazilian regulatory guidelines (ANVISA, RDC 166/2017) for the separation of co-eluted peaks of fluconazole and green propolis in the nanoparticle supernatant. Applying the method developed, it was possible to quantify fluconazole in the same sample containing propolis. Thus, the results allow to affirm that it is a specific test, effective, precise and robust, which helped to determine the efficiency of association of the compounds within the nanoparticle. The method can be applied to quantify compounds that have similar chromatographic retention times.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12088-021-00954-2.