Nanostructured lipid carriers: a promising drug carrier for targeting brain tumours

Abstract

Background In recent years, the field of nanotechnology and nanomedicine has transformed the pharmaceutical industry with the development of novel drug delivery systems that overcome the shortcomings of traditional drug delivery systems. Nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs), also known as the second-generation lipid nanocarriers, are one such efficient and targeted drug delivery system that has gained immense attention all across due to their myriad advantages and applications. Scientific advancements have revolutionized our health system, but still, brain diseases like brain tumour have remained formidable owing to poor prognosis and the challenging drug delivery to the brain tissue. In this review, we highlighted the application and potential of NLCs in brain-specific delivery of chemotherapeutic agents. Main body NLCs are lipid-based formulations with a solid matrix at room temperature and offer advantages like enhanced stability, low toxicity, increased shelf life, improved drug loading capacity, and biocompatibility over other conventional lipid-based nanocarriers such as nanoemulsions and solid lipid nanoparticles. This review meticulously articulates the structure, classification, components, and various methods of preparation exemplified with various research studies along with their advantages and disadvantages. The concept of drug loading and release has been discussed followed by a brief about stability and strategies to improve stability of NLCs. The review also summarizes various in vitro and in vivo research studies on NLCs encapsulated with cytotoxic drugs and their potential application in brain-specific drug delivery. Conclusion NLCs are employed as an important carrier for the delivery of food, cosmetics, and medicines and recently have been used in brain targeting, cancer, and gene therapy. However, in this review, the applications and importance of NLCs in targeting brain tumour have been discussed in detail stating examples of various research studies conducted in recent years. In addition, to shed light on the promising role of NLCs, the current clinical status of NLCs has also been summarized. Graphical Abstract

Green Synthesis of Gelatin‐Lipid Nanocarriers Incorporating Berberis aristata Extract for Cancer Therapy; Physical Characterization, Pharmacological and Molecular Modeling Analysis

“…The encapsulation capability of a nanostructure particularly depends on the crystalline lipid core with unique chemical structure. Meanwhile higher encapsulation capability is based on imperfect lattice structure of the lipid core [41] as the defected lattice incorporates larger amount of a drug [42] . Consistent with another study gelatin modified lipid nanoformulation demonstrated higher EE of approximately 87 % [32]…”

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“…Thus, second generation lipidic nanoparticle i.e., NLC came into existence which offer high drug loading capacity, have decreased risk of gelation, and restricted leakage of the drug upon storage in ccomparison to SLN. Moreover, NLCs also provide a long term exposure of drug towards cancer cell and ultimately, they can enhance the therapeutic efficacy of drug at the tumor site [ 136 ]. Sun et al fabricated NLC based formulation of qurecetin to enhance the oral bioavailability by using soy lecithin, glyceryl tridecanate, glyceryl tripalmitate, Kolliphor HS15.…”

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“…They can be viewed as a very adaptable platform for BT imaging and therapy [ 146 ]. Several BTs targeting SLNs and their in vitro and in vivo effectiveness have been researched during the last two decades [ 147 ]. The findings of these investigations have been found to improve the efficacy of chemotherapeutic drugs while decreasing their negative effects.…”

“…Type I, or imprecise type, is distinguished by crystal formation defects in which a portion of the solid lipid is replaced by liquid lipids to increase the ratio of imperfections in the lipid matrix’s lattice, resulting in greater free space for drug accommodation. As a result, the loading capacity rises, and the integrated medicine is not ejected from the core formulation [ 147 ]. In Type II, or amorphous, the medication is incorporated in a solid amorphous (formless) matrix in this type.…”