Encapsulation of Progesterone-Like Compounds in 10% Liposome Increases Their Concentration in Rats Administered an Injectable Dosage Form of These Compounds

The use of herbal medicine to fill the void in synthetic medicine is very necessary for health lifestyle. Progesterone-like compounds (PLCs) from the extract of the leaves of Dendrophthoe pentandra L. Miq from the subspecies, Benalu Duku (BD), are known to contain beneficial compounds that contain anti-cancer and androgenic substances. The slow release of active compounds can be achieved using slow release vehicles. Liposomes that are small unilamellar vesicles (SUVs) are one of the excipient substances that can be reliably used as a vehicle to achieve timely release of bioactive substances. This study was conducted to demonstrate that encapsulating PLCs in 10% liposomal SUV enables the gradual release of bioactive compounds. Three single doses of 3; 5; 7 mg PLCs-Liposome SUV/100 g per body weight of rats were injected into rats in the trial groups (15 of rats). Thereafter, the plasma concentrations of PLCs were assessed using liquid chromatography electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (LC-ESI MS). The concentrations of PLCs in the trial groups were found to be 1.20 to 2.40 fold higher than those in the control group. Such findings indicate that encapsulating drugs in 10% liposomes can result in a higher drug level in blood than that obtained without drug encapsulation (P<0.05).