Opioids Morphine & Chitosan for better intranasal absorption

[plumbus-nine]

"Morphine administered nasally to humans as a simple solution is only absorbed to a limited degree, with a bioavailability of the order of 10% compared with intravenous administration. This article describes the development of novel nasal morphine formulations based on chitosan, which, in the sheep model, provide a highly increased absorption with a 5- to 6-fold increase in bioavailability over simple morphine solutions. The chitosan-morphine nasal formulations have been tested in healthy volunteers in comparison with a slow i.v. infusion (over 30 min) of morphine. The results show that the nasal formulation was rapidly absorbed with a Tmax of 15 min or less and a bioavailability of nearly 60%. The shape of the plasma profile for nasal delivery of the chitosan-morphine formulation was similar to the one obtained for the slow i.v. administration of morphine. Furthermore, the metabolite profile obtained after the nasal administration of the chitosan-morphine nasal formulation was essentially identical to the one obtained for morphine administered by the intravenous route. The levels of both morphine-6-glucuronide and morphine-3-glucuronide were only about 25% of that found after oral administration of morphine. It is concluded that a properly designed nasal morphine formulation (such as one with chitosan) can result in a noninjectable opioid product capable of offering patients rapid and efficient pain relief."

So there's a way to get more out of morphine - the paper is here in fulltext. They did both just mix some chitosan into a nasal spray along with morphine, as well as used some fancy nanoparticle technology in another attempt - guess this is out of question for layman's use but seemingly the first variant also significantly increased morphine's bioavailability.

Anybody better knowledged able to explain a bit if this works and is an option for at-home use? Or even experiences to report?

I'll get some chitosan and try but it'll take a while and if it's inactive I could save the money ...
Much appreciated!

 

[Tramalala]

Sounds interesting! Do you think Chitosan might increase intranasal absorption of other substances too? Or is this specific to Morphine? (not only asking you @plumbus-nine but if you have an idea I'd love to hear it too ofcourse!)