Abstract
The present work describes the systematic development of paclitaxel and naringenin-loaded solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) for the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). So far only temozolomide therapy is available for the GBM treatment, which fails by large amount due to poor brain permeability of the drug and recurrent metastasis of the tumor. Thus, we investigated the drug combination containing paclitaxel and naringenin for the treatment of GBM, as these drugs have individually demonstrated significant potential for the management of a wide variety of carcinoma. A systematic product development approach was adopted where risk assessment was performed for evaluating the impact of various formulation and process parameters on the quality attributes of the SLNs. I-optimal response surface design was employed for optimization of the dual drug-loaded SLNs prepared by micro-emulsification method, where Percirol ATO5 and Dynasan 114 were used as the solid lipid and surfactant, while Lutrol F188 was used as the stabilizer. Drug loaded-SLNs were subjected to detailed in vitro and in vivo characterization studies. Cyclic RGD peptide sequence (Arg-Gly-Asp) was added to the formulation to obtain the surface modified SLNs which were also evaluated for the particle size and surface charge. The optimized drug-loaded SLNs exhibited particle size and surface charge of 129 nm and 23 mV, drug entrapment efficiency >80% and drug loading efficiency >7%. In vitro drug release study carried out by micro dialysis bag method indicated more than 70% drug was release observed within 8 h time period. In vivo pharmacokinetic evaluation showed significant improvement (p < 0.05) in drug absorption parameters (Cmax and AUC) from the optimized SLNs over the free drug suspension. Cytotoxicity evaluation on U87MG glioma cells indicated SLNs with higher cytotoxicity as compared to that of the free drug suspension (p < 0.05). Evaluation of uptake by florescence measurement indicated superior uptake of SLNs tagged with dye over the plain dye solution. Overall, the dual drug-loaded SLNs showed better chemoprotective effect over the plain drug solution, thus construed superior anticancer activity of the developed nanoformulation in the management of glioblastoma multiforme.