Physicochemical Characterization, Stability, and In Vitro Evaluation of Curcumin-Loaded Solid Lipid Nanoparticles Prepared Using Biocompatible Synthetic Lipids

Solidlipid nanoparticles (SLNs) are promising drug delivery vehiclesfor the delivery of various drugs, especially poorly water-solubledrugs. However, the aqueous stability, drug release, and biocompatibilityof SLNs are some of the issues that need attention. In this work,curcumin-loaded SLNs were prepared, and morphology, particle size,and entrapment efficiency were studied. For this, two amino acid-derivedlipids were developed. The effect of the polarity of the lipid headon the aqueous stability of the SLN dispersion was investigated. Basedon the stability, particle size, and polydispersity, an optimum formulationwas obtained. The curcumin entrapment efficiency of the SLNs was foundto be greater than those reported in the literature. The entrappedcurcumin, as well as curcumin-loaded SLN suspensions, exhibited improvedstorage stability. The in vitro release kinetics indicated an enhancedrate of drug release in the case of curcumin-loaded SLNs consistingof the lipid containing -OH groups at the lipid head. The purelipid and the blank SLN were found to have no significant cytotoxicity,but curcumin and curcumin-loaded SLNs induced cell death in a concentration-dependentmanner in both human prostatic adenocarcinoma PC3 cell line and humanbreast carcinoma MCF7 cell line. This study has proposed a potentialsemisynthetic lipid for the stable SLN suspension for the deliveryof curcumin.