Colloidal delivery of vitamin E into solid lipid nanoparticles as a potential complement for the adverse effects of anemia treatment

Vitamin E (VitE) is one of the most important antioxidants and plays a key role in decreasing the inflammatory effects of oxidative stress caused by recurrent doses of iron administration in anemia treatment. However, VitE is poorly soluble in aqueous environments. Here, VitE encapsulation into solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) composed of myristil myristate to improve its bioavailability was proposed. A 99.9 ± 0.1% encapsulation efficiency with a drug/lipid ratio of 500 µg/mg and 478 higher VitE solubility was obtained. The antioxidant properties of VitE after encapsulation were maintained. SLN-VitE showed a 228.2 nm mean diameter with low polidispersitivity (0.335), and negative Z potential (ζ ≈ -9.0 mV). The SLN were well-dispersed, displayed spherical and homogeneous morphology by TEM. A controlled release of VitE from SLN was found. The XRD and FTIR analyses revealed the presence of a nanostructured architecture of SLN after VitE incorporation. We probed the safety of SLN-VitE after contact with three in vitro cell models: erythrocytes, lymphocytes and HepG2 cells. The cell viability in presence of SLN, SLN-VitE, and their combinations with iron was not affected. The comet assay demonstrated that the DNA damage caused by iron administration was decrease in presence of SLN-VitE.

Nanostructured Lipid Carriers Loaded with Dexamethasone Prevent Inflammatory Responses in Primary Non-Parenchymal Liver Cells

Liver inflammation represents a major clinical problem in a wide range of pathologies. Among the strategies to prevent liver failure, dexamethasone (DXM) has been widely used to suppress inflammatory responses. The use of nanocarriers for encapsulation and sustained release of glucocorticoids to liver cells could provide a solution to prevent severe side effects associated with systemic delivery as the conventional treatment regime. Here we describe a nanostructured lipid carrier developed to efficiently encapsulate and release DXM. This nano-formulation proved to be stable over time, did not interact in vitro with plasma opsonins, and was well tolerated by primary non-parenchymal liver cells (NPCs). Released DXM preserved its pharmacological activity, as evidenced by inducing robust anti-inflammatory responses in NPCs. Taken together, nanostructured lipid carriers may constitute a reliable platform for the delivery of DXM to treat pathologies associated with chronic liver inflammation.

Design of magnetic hybrid nanostructured lipid carriers containing 1,8-cineole as delivery systems for anticancer drugs: Physicochemical and cytotoxic studies

The development of versatile carriers to deliver chemotherapeutic agents to specific targets with establishing drug release kinetics and minimum undesirable side effects is becoming a promising relevant tool in the medical field. Magnetic hybrid nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC) were prepared by incorporation of 1,8-cineole (CN, a monoterpene with antiproliferative properties) and maghemite nanoparticles (MNPs) into a hybrid matrix composed of myristyl myristate coated with chitosan. Hybrid NLC characterized by DLS and TEM confirmed the presence of positively charged spherical nanoparticles of around 250 nm diameter and +10.2 mV of Z-potential. CN encapsulation into the lipid core was greater than 75 % and effectively released in 24 h. Modification of the crystalline structure of nanoparticles after incorporation of CN and MNPs was observed by XRD, DSC, and TGA analyses. Superparamagnetic NLC behavior was verified by recording the magnetization using a vibrating scanning magnetometer. NLC resulted in more cytotoxic than free CN in HepG2 and A549 cell lines. Particularly, viability inhibition of HepG2 and A549 cells was increased from 35 % to 55 % and from 38 % to 61 %, respectively, when 8 mM CN was incorporated into the lipid NPs at 24 h. Green fluorescent-labeled NLC with DIOC18 showed an enhanced cellular uptake with chitosan-coated NLC. Besides, no cytotoxicity of the formulations in normal WI-38 cells was observed, suggesting that the developed hybrid NLC system is a safe and good potential candidate for the selective delivery and potentiation of anticancer drugs.