Folate conjugated solid lipid nanoparticle: formulation development, optimization and characterization

Abstract

The current paper represents the development, optimization, and characterization of paclitaxel-loaded folate conjugated solid lipid nanoparticles (FA-SLNs). The ligand (FA-SLNs) conjugated and non-conjugated SLNs (PTX-SLNs) were prepared by hot homogenization method. Both of the formulations (FA-SLNs and PTX-SLNs) were optimized with various parameters i.e. drug loading, stirring time, stirring speed, particle size, and polydispersity index, and characterized. The in-vitro drug release study was performed in different pH environments by using the dialysis bag method. The surface morphology and particle size were determined through scanning electron micorscopy and Transmission Electron Microscopy respectively, The SLNs formulations were also evaluated for the stability study. The particle size of PTX-SLNs and FA-SLNs was determined and found to be 190.1±1.9 and 231.3±2.3 nm respectively. The surface morphology of the SLNs indicates that the prepared formulations are round-shaped and show smooth surfaces. The TEM study indicated that particles were in the range of 100-300 nm. The entrapment efficiency and drug loading capacity of FA-SLNs were found to be 79.42±1.6% and 17.3±1.9%, respectively. In-vitro drug release study data, stated that the optimum drug release was found in an acidic environment at pH 4.0, that showed 94.21% drug release after 16 hours and it proves that optimized formulation FA-SLNs will gave the sustained and better release in tumor tissue that owing acidic environment because of the angiogenesis process. In this research paper, different formulation parameters, found to influence fabrication of drug into Solid lipid nanoparticles, were optimized for high entrapment efficiency and drug loading. The most important parameters were drug:lipid ratio, drug:polymer ratio and lipid: surfactant ratio. Higher in-vitro drug release was observed in pH 4 as compared to the pH 7.4. These result data concludes that FA-SLNs formulation was successfully prepared, optimized and characterized.