Formulation development of Silybum marianum seed extracts and silymarin nanoparticles, and evaluation of hepatoprotective effect

In this study, we formulated silymarin-nanoparticles and assayed their ability to reduce acetaminophen-induced toxicity in vitro and in vivo. After silymarin molecules were encapsulated the loading efficiency and the physi-cochemical properties of fabricated nanoparticles were investigated by HPLC and DLS analysis. The in vivo hepatoprotective studies were conducted on rats in an optimized setting. The nanoformulation was presented a significant (p <= 0.05) hepatoprotective effect by reducing the serum marker enzymes such as AST, and ALT. The histopathological study further confirmed the hepatoprotective activity of the nanoformulations when compared with the acetaminophen-induced, two different silymarin formulations as treatment group and control group. These results indicate that the nano approaches could be used to improve the therapeutic efficacy of the nano-silymarin. The formulation of silymarin-nanoparticles showed a spherical shape with an average diameter be-tween 138.9 nm and 1155 nm, the zeta potential of - 0.0340 mV. The average loading efficiency was found around 32 +/- 0.5%.