Characterization and in vitro release of inhalation quercetin solid lipid microparticles

Abstract

This study purposes to develop solid lipid microparticles (SLM) inhalation delivery system for respiratory diseases with Quercetin as the active agent. Quercetin has various functions, such as for antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulator, and antivirus. SLM is formed from a mixture of lipids and surfactants, namely, Glyceryl Behenate as solid lipid, Poloxamer 188 as the surfactant, and production of SLM using the melt o/w emulsification technique and was dried using freeze dryer. The effect of lipid concentration was studied in this research. Quercetin SLM was characterized by moisture content, Fourier transform infrared, particle size, yield, drug loading, and encapsulation efficiency. The SLM particles produced were spherical in shape and had a smooth surface with sizes of F1, F2, and F3 were 1.79 μm, 1.88 μm, and 1.91 μm, respectively. According to the target particle size of inhalation, Quercetin SLM had good flowability according to Carr's Index (F1 = 12.73% ± 0.38, F2 = 14.28% ± 0.65, F3 = 14.65% ± 0.62), in which the highest drug loading and EE of F3 were 10.94% and 88.48%, respectively. In vitro release study showed that in 630 min about 31%–33% Quercetin released indicated sustained release following Higuchi kinetics and quercetin release rate was not affected by the amount of lipid. To sum up, quercetin SLM demonstrates its potential as an inhalation delivery system and it is recommended to study its stability.