Synthesis and physiochemical characterizing of Liponiosomal hybrid nano-carriers as carriers for Doxorubicin HCl anti-cancer drug

Lipid nano-carriers with slow release and semi-targeted delivery of the drug can reduce some of the challenges of drug delivery to cancer cells. The aim of this study was to prepare and evaluate physiochemicals of various formulations of the liponiosomal system containing doxorubicin in order to achieve targeted formulation in order to better fight cancer cells.

Nano-carriers were synthesized using different molar ratios of structural elements such as Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine, Cholesterol, Sorbitan ester and 3 out of 5 synthesized formulation were chose based on encapsulation efficiency. Then, in order to determine the final formula, release profiles comprised by dialysis and spectroscopy methods. The final formula was PEGylated by using DSPE-mPEG(2000) in order to investigate its effects on encapsulation efficiency and release profiles in healthy and cancerous cells simulated environment. Physiochemical characteristics such as size, zeta potential, Polydispersity Index(PDI), IR spectrum, and morphology were identified.

The final PEGylated formula encapsulating doxorubicin had 102.9 nm size, 94.17±3.21% encapsulation efficiency, -6.67 mV zeta potential and 0.128 PDI. The maximum release rate of the drug for this nano-carrier in healthy and cancerous within 48 hours was 24.43% and 26.81% respectively. IR and morphological investigations showed no chemical interaction between drug and nanocarrier and the particles are spherical in shape.

The result of this research indicates that the PEGylated liponiosomal system, having the appropriate physiochemical properties, has not changed the chemical nature of drug and thus can be a suitable and semi-targeted carrier for doxorubicin.