Lipid Nanoparticles for Lutein Encapsulation and Delivery

Abstract

Recently, lipid nanoparticles have been intensively studied as carriers of lipophilic drugs. In this work, we have studied the stability of nanoemulsions with paraffin oil, solid lipid nanoparticles with stearic acid, and nanostructured lipid particles with paraffin oil and stearic acid in a mass ratio of 1 : 1. The obtained results have shown that all studied lipid systems stabilized with nonionic surfactants Tween 60 and Span 60 were stable to aggregation and subsequent sedimentation for more than 30 days. The incorporation of lutein into the lipid particles has almost no effect on their stability, while the size of solid lipid nanoparticles and nanostructured lipid nanoparticles decreases from 28–30 to 15–17 nm. The bioavailability of lutein loaded in lipid nanoparticles is evaluated from their effect on the restoration of blood flow velocity by simulating hemic hypoxia. Almost immediately after the application of lipid nanoparticles, the blood flow velocity ceases to decrease, and a tendency to its restoration is observed in 5–10 min. This shows that lipid nanoparticles with paraffin oil and stearic acid are promising candidates for the delivery of lipophilic drugs.