Abstract: 
To solve the problem of low drug availability in the body, acyclovir was fabricated into biodegradable gelatin nanoparticles by stepwise two-times desolvation method where gelatin was used as biodegradable polymer and glutaraldehyde was utilized as a cross-linking agent. Optimization was conceded by design expert computational application whereby the outcome of gelatin polymer concentration (X1) and glutaraldehyde-crosslinking agent (X2) were studied on particle size (Y1), zeta potential (Y2) and entrapment efficiency (Y3). The drug-loaded gelatin nanoparticles formulations were characterized by particle size, surface charge, and entrapment efficiency. Drug-loaded gelatin nanoparticles were also evaluated by ANOVA studies. The optimized formulation (F9) of 0.8% gelatin polymer (X1) and 250 μL of glutaraldehyde-crosslinking agent (X2) containing acyclovir: gelatin ratio of 1:8 , which showed a particle size, zeta potential and maximum entrapment efficiency of 139.87 nm, -32.67mv and 91.23% respectively.

Keywords: Gelatin, Nanoparticles, Acyclovir, Glutaraldehyde, Optimization, Zeta Potential.