Enhanced stability and in vitro bioactivity of surfactant-loaded liposomes containing Asiatic Pennywort extract

The objective of this work has been the microencapsulation of Asiatic Pennywort (AP) extract with lecithin from soybean. The effect of various quantities of non-ionic surfactant (Montanov82 (R)) on liposomes upon physicochemical characteristics as well as their in vitro bio-activities was investigated. An addition of surfactant resulted in a decrease in particle size and an increase in percentage AP entrapment efficiency of liposomes. The surfactant-loaded liposomes demonstrated higher stability than surfactant-free liposomes where higher percentage AP remaining of liposomes can be achieved depending on surfactant concentration. No significant difference was found on AP release profiles among varied surfactant concentrations, although a presence of surfactant resulted in prolonged AP release rate. Liposomal AP with 20% w/w surfactant or higher demonstrated low cytotoxicity, a stronger anti-oxidation effect and collagen production on dermal fibroblast cells when compared with free AP and surfactant-free liposomes, possibly due to better cell internalization and less AP degradation in cells.