The
toxicity of Amphotericin B (AmB) is contributed by the small,
water-soluble aggregates of the drug. Hence, AmB lipid polymer hybrid
nanoparticles (LIPOMER), comprising stearate lipids with a hydrophilic
polymer Gantrez (GZ), and solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN), comprising
only stearates, were prepared with the objective of monomerizing AmB.
While intercalation of stearates with the hydrophobic polyene chain
could hinder AmB–AmB interactions, enabling monomerization,
it was hypothesized that GZ could aid in the stabilization of the
monomers through hydrophilic interactions. AmB LIPOMERs and SLNs,
prepared by nanoprecipitation, exhibited an average size of 350–500
nm with negative ζ potential. Polyglyceryl-6-distearate (PGDS)
SLN exhibited maximum monomerization, with the highest peak IV (410
nm) to peak I (350 nm) ratio in the UV–visible spectrum. In
total contrast, LIPOMERs and GZ nanoparticles revealed a hypsochromic
shifted peak I between 321 and 324 nm, indicative of AmB super-aggregate formation.
Super-aggregates, which result due to condensation of multiple aggregates
with monomers, were attributed to extensive GZ–AmB and GZ–GZ
interactions and could provide advantages of enhanced thermodynamic
stability, with safety and efficacy similar to the monomeric form.
Safety was confirmed by low and comparable erythrocyte toxicity exhibited
by the LIPOMERs and SLNs. An in vitro efficacy
study of PGDS LIPOMER and SLN against intracellular amastigotes revealed
significantly lower IC50 values, which translated to a
7.1- and 6.1-fold enhancement in efficacy compared to commercial nanoformulations
Amfocare (micellar AmB) and 1.79- and 1.54-fold enhancement in efficacy
compared to Fungisome (liposomal AmB). High efficacy coupled with
a higher selectivity index indicated the superiority of the developed
AmB nanoformulations and substantiated that altering the toxic aggregated
state of AmB can offer a promising approach for the design of safe
and efficacious AmB lipidic nanoformulations.