Defense Date
6-15-2023
Graduation Date
Fall 12-15-2023
Availability
One-year Embargo
Submission Type
thesis
Degree Name
MS
Department
Pharmaceutics
School
School of Pharmacy
Committee Chair
Jelena M. Janjic
Committee Member
Peter Wildfong
Committee Member
Kevin Tidgewell
Keywords
lipidic nanoparticles, microfluidization, QTPP, sonication, lyophilization
Abstract
Nano-delivery systems such as solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) are being actively explored. Drug encapsulation in SLNs helps in improving the drug’s bioavailability and can be used for targeted delivery. We hypothesize that the production of stable SLNs can be achieved using low melting point lipids such as coconut oil (CO). The safety of CO has been demonstrated, and its capacity to dissolve drug molecules has been established. Drug-free solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) were formulated through the utilization of sonication and magnetic stirring as production techniques. Different compositions and process variables that directly influence SLN manufacturing were evaluated with the target of developing a robust and reproducible formulation methodology. Prepared coconut oil solid lipid nanoparticles (CO-SLNs) were characterized for their particle size (PS) and dispersity index (DI). Detailed physical stability evaluation of CO-SLNs was conducted by measuring changes in PS and DI values upon exposure to different stressors. CO-SLNs exhibited satisfactory properties with PS values of ˂ 200 nm and DI values of ˂ 0.200, which remained stable (≤5% change in PS and DI values) under different stress conditions and after exposure to an elevated temperature. CO-SLNs demonstrated stability after storage for 8 months. The developed CO-SLNs exhibited good tolerance to the lyophilization process. Upon comparison with the CO-SLNs, that were not lyophilized, non-significant changes in SLN properties were obtained. Furthermore, a successful scale-up batch of the optimized CO-SLNs was obtained using microfluidization as an additional processing step. The medium-scale CO-SLNs batch exhibited good colloidal properties of PS and DI with stability retention under stress test conditions. These SLN systems also exhibited short-term stability of 2 months. All these encouraging results provide us with convincing evidence for further exploration of the CO-SLNs to load poorly soluble bioactive drug molecules and utilize them for enhanced drug solubility and bioavailability to the target body cells.
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Adlakha, S. (2023). DEVELOPMENT, FABRICATION, AND IN VITRO CHARACTERIZATION OF COCONUT OIL LIPIDIC NANOPARTICLES (Master's thesis, Duquesne University). Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/2301
