Evaluation of Cardiomyocyte Targeted Novel Nano-formulation of Pirfenidone on Doxorubicin Induced Congestive Heart Failure in Rats

Cardiovascular diseases have become a major public health concern and represent one of the most important causes of mortality and morbidity with an escalating prevalence of 12.5% every year since the past decade. It is estimated that 31% of all-cause of mortality is due to cardiovascular diseases (according to 2015 World Health Organization data). Pirfenidone (PFD) was selected in the present study because the drug possesses multifaceted pharmacological activity, but delivering the drug to a specific target was a challenging approach. Biomedical application of nanotechnology could help deliver the drug to a specific target at a minimum concentration of drug with maximum efficacy and reduced toxicity. Nanotechnology, being the functional system that operates at molecular level, yields the opportunity to address and treat cardiovascular diseases. Over conventional drug delivery system, nanoparticles (NP’s) can offer significant advantages in terms of high drug-carrying capacity, high specificity, high stability, versatility to use in different routes of administrations, the ability for controlled release and capacity to deliver both hydrophobic and hydrophilic drugs. Hence, the objective of current investigation was to develop a suitable nanoformulation with pirfenidone (PFDNF) and to evaluate its cardioprotective and cardiotonic efficacy.