Acyclovir Solid Lipid Nanoparticles for Skin Drug Delivery: Fabrication, Characterization and In vitro Study.

OBJECTIVE The fractionated coconut oil based Solid Lipid Nanoparticles (SLNs) of Acyclovir (ACV) were fabricated in two batches by using Glyceryl mono stearate (GMS) and Lipoid S75 (Fat free soybean phospholipids with 70% phosphatidylcholine-Lipoid GmbH, Germany). The research was focused on developing ACV-SLN by using high pressure hot-homogenization technique. The ingredients were used in different concentrations and ratios to identify the best formulation design. METHODS The GMS with Fractionated coconut oil and Lipoid S75 with Fractionated coconut oil were used in various concentrations in formulation design to assess the impact on the fabrication and evaluation of SLNs. The SLNs were subjected to various characterization techniques such as XRD (X-Ray Diffraction), FTIR (Fourier transform infrared study), master sizer analysis and zeta potential. The mean particle size was determined by master sizer and zeta sizer. Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) was used as a tool to analyze the morphology and other features. The zeta potential and drug Entrapment Efficiency (EE%) were also determined. The drug release time profile was studied in vitro study with the utilization of dialysis membrane technique as well as by wistar rat skin. The most recent patents related to the current research topic were also discussed. RESULTS The Zeta potential of the best formulation from GMS batch GNE5 was found to be -2.62mV as the preparation was very viscous with low zeta potential. The better results of Lipoid S75 batch LS4 were found to be 23.23mV which was within the recommended range. The formulations prepared with Lipoid S75, LS4 showed narrow distribution size of 53.46nm and the uniformity was found to be 14.1. The formulation LS4 demonstrated the lowest distribution with of 6.8, 14.5, 139.1nm respectively amongst all the formulations. CONCLUSION SLN dispersions exhibited the average size in nano range. SLNs with small particle size found to have predetermined encapsulation efficiency and relatively high loading capacity and predetermined in vitro drugrelease profile. The lipoid S and Pluronic F68 nanoparticles are found to be superior to Conventional GMSand tween 80 nanoparticles in terms of particles size, stability and zetapotential.