Targeted Nanostructured Lipid Carrier for Brain Delivery of Artemisinin: Design, Preparation, Characterization, Optimization and Cell Toxicity Publisher Pubmed

Summary: A study found targeted nanoparticles deliver artemisinin effectively, fighting brain cancer and malaria. #CancerResearch #Nanotechnology

Emami J¹ ; Yousefian H¹ ; Sadeghi H²
Source: Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Published:2018

Abstract

In the present study, a transferrin-conjugated nanostructured lipid carrier (TF-NLCs) for brain delivery of artemisinin (ART) was developed. ART-loaded NLCs (ART-NLCs) were prepared using solvent evaporation method and the impact of various formulation or process variables on the responses were assessed using a Taguchi design. Optimized ART-NLC was then coupled with transferrin as targeting ligand and its in vitro cytotoxicity was investigated against U-87MG brain cancer cell line. As a result, the following values are suggested by the software to prepare the optimized formulation: 20 mg Compritol®, 0.25% Tween 80, 5 mg oleic acid, 2.5 mL dichloromethane and 4 min sonication. Mean particle size (PS), zeta potential (ZP), polydispersity index (PDI), entrapment efficiency (EE), mean release time (MRT) of adopted formulation were confirmed to be 145 ± 12.5 nm, 24.3 ± 1.5 mV, 0.513 ± 0.021, 82.3 ± 7.3 % and 24.0 ± 1.1 h, respectively. Following conjugation of optimized ART-NLCs with TF, PS and MRT were increased, while ZP, and EE were decreased significantly. TF-ART-NLCs showed higher cytotoxic activity compared to non-targeted NLCs and free drug. These results indicated that the TF-ART-NLCs could potentially be exploited as a delivery system for anticancer and antimalarial drug ART in brain tumors and malaria. © 2018, Canadian Society for Pharmaceutical Sciences. All rights reserved.