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BackgroundGinger and castor oil, both are used in traditional medicine to treat arthritis, the latter is also commonly used as a vehicle in these systems of medicine. The study was designed to prepare a nanostructured lipid carrier (NLC) of ginger extract using castor oil as a novel liquid lipid and evaluate its safety and efficacy in rheumatoid arthritis in experimental animals.MethodsGinger extract was standardized using High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The optimized NLC formulation was characterized and its therapeutic efficacy was evaluated in Chronic Freund's adjuvant (CFA) induced arthritis in experimental animals.ResultsGinger extract contained 38.76 ± 3.01%w/w of 6-gingerol. The optimized NLC formulation showed a particle size of around 205 nm, a zeta potential of −33.7 and %entrapment efficiency of 76.59 ± 0.83%. Reduction in primary inflammation was significantly higher with NLC when compared with ginger extract and castor oil alone (p<0.001). The formulation also improved hyperalgesia in rats.ConclusionCastor oil can be used as a novel lipid in the preparation of NLC. The NLC effectively enhanced the therapeutic value of poorly bioavailable ginger extract.