Skin delivery is an exciting and challenging field. It is a promising approach for effective drug delivery due to its ease of administration, ease of handling, high flexibility, controlled release, prolonged therapeutic effect, adaptability, and many other advantages. The main associated challenge, however, is low skin permeability. The skin is a healthy barrier that serves as the body’s primary defence mechanism against foreign particles. New advances in skin delivery (both topical and transdermal) depend on overcoming the challenges associated with drug molecule permeation and skin irritation. These limitations can be overcome by employing new approaches such as lipid nanosystems. Due to their advantages (such as easy scaling, low cost, and remarkable stability) these systems have attracted interest from the scientific community. However, for a successful formulation, several factors including particle size, surface charge, components, etc. have to be understood and controlled. This review provided a brief overview of the structure of the skin as well as the different pathways of nanoparticle penetration. In addition, the main factors influencing the penetration of nanoparticles have been highlighted. Applications of lipid nanosystems for dermal and transdermal delivery, as well as regulatory aspects, were critically discussed.

/pdf/current-advances-in-lipid-nanosystems-intended-for-topical-11fp3je8.pdf

Current Advances in Lipid Nanosystems Intended for Topical and Transdermal Drug Delivery Applications

Abstract Solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs), the spheroidal-shaped, colloids state lipophilic-natured, innovative nanoscale particulate materials, are being concurrently prepared by the quality-by-design approach for cellular and sub-cellular delivery of drugs and other payloads with facilitated physicochemical characteristics for targeted delivery. The delivery of drugs, other pharmaceuticals and biopharmaceutical materials, and genes to the diseased body organs, tissues, and cellular mass have been developed as promising nanocarriers for different high-incidence cancers and other disease therapies, including the Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and tuberculosis. SLNs have evolved as favorable lipid-based formulation, and have served as oral and intravenous carriers that targeted the drug with stable and sterile transport, sustained delivery, controlled drug/payload deloading, and requisite biodistributions. SLNs advantages, shortcomings, and bottlenecks have been discussed with plausible remediation strategies. The laboratory-scale and bulk preparations, use of different lipids in various preparation, surface coatings, physicochemical properties of the final product, and characterization protocols are also encompassed, as are the routes of administrations, specific-sites-targeting, and on-site outreach with biocompatibility, bioavailability, and the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion and pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics inputs with relevance to the therapy. Plausible applications in complex and genetic disorders, and as personalized medicine, also of traditional and alternative medicine prospects, are also discussed. Graphical abstract

/pdf/solid-lipid-nanoparticles-for-targeted-natural-and-synthetic-15nflwuf.pdf

Solid lipid nanoparticles for targeted natural and synthetic drugs delivery in high-incidence cancers, and other diseases: Roles of preparation methods, lipid composition, transitional stability, and release profiles in nanocarriers’ development

The use of natural compounds is becoming increasingly popular among patients, and there is a renewed interest among scientists in nature-based bioactive agents. Traditionally, herbal drugs can be taken directly in the form of teas/decoctions/infusions or as standardized extracts. However, the disadvantages of natural compounds, especially essential oils, are their instability, limited bioavailability, volatility, and often irritant/allergenic potential. However, these active substances can be stabilized by encapsulation and administered in the form of nanoparticles. This brief overview summarizes the latest results of the application of nanoemulsions, liposomes, solid lipid nanoparticles, and nanostructured lipid carriers used as drug delivery systems of herbal essential oils or used directly for their individual secondary metabolites applicable in cancer therapy. Although the discussed bioactive agents are not typical compounds used as anticancer agents, after inclusion into the aforesaid formulations improving their stability and bioavailability and/or therapeutic profile, they indicated anti-tumor activity and became interesting agents with cancer treatment potential. In addition, co-encapsulation of essential oils with synthetic anticancer drugs into nanoformulations with the aim to achieve synergistic effect in chemotherapy is discussed.

/pdf/anticancer-applications-of-essential-oils-formulated-into-251fnrhw.pdf

Anticancer Applications of Essential Oils Formulated into Lipid-Based Delivery Nanosystems

Sufficient ocular bioavailability is often considered a challenge by the researchers, due to the complex structure of the eye and its protective physiological mechanisms. In addition, the low viscosity of the eye drops and the resulting short ocular residence time further contribute to the observed low drug concentration at the target site. Therefore, various drug delivery platforms are being developed to enhance ocular bioavailability, provide controlled and sustained drug release, reduce the number of applications, and maximize therapy outcomes. Solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) and nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) exhibit all these benefits, in addition to being biocompatible, biodegradable, and susceptible to sterilization and scale-up. Furthermore, their successive surface modification contributes to prolonged ocular residence time (by adding cationic compounds), enhanced penetration, and improved performance. The review highlights the salient characteristics of SLNs and NLCs concerning ocular drug delivery, and updates the research progress in this area.

/pdf/recent-progress-of-solid-lipid-nanoparticles-and-1801gig5.pdf

Recent Progress of Solid Lipid Nanoparticles and Nanostructured Lipid Carriers as Ocular Drug Delivery Platforms

Targeted Treatment of Triple-Negative-Breast Cancer Through pH-Triggered Tumour Associated Macrophages Using Smart Theranostic Nanoformulations.

Solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) are an alternate carrier system to liposomes, polymeric nanoparticles, and inorganic carriers. SLNs have attracted increasing attention in recent years for delivering drugs, nucleic acids, proteins, peptides, nutraceuticals, and cosmetics. These nanocarriers have attracted industrial attention due to their ease of preparation, physicochemical stability, and scalability. These characteristics make SLNs attractive for manufacture on a large scale. Currently, several products with SLNs are in clinical trials, and there is a high possibility that SLN carriers will quickly increase their presence in the market. A large-scale manufacturing unit is required for commercial applications to prepare enough formulations for clinical studies. Furthermore, continuous processing is becoming more popular in the pharmaceutical sector to reduce product batch-to-batch differences. This review paper discusses some conventional methods and the rationale for large-scale production. It further covers recent progress in scale-up methods for the synthesis of SLNs, including high-pressure homogenization (HPH), hot melt extrusion coupled with HPH, microchannels, nanoprecipitation using static mixers, and microemulsion-based methods. These scale-up technologies enable the possibility of commercialization of SLNs. Furthermore, ongoing studies indicate that these technologies will eventually reach the pharmaceutical market.

https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4923/14/9/1886/pdf?version=1662537408

A. R. Nambiar

Papers

Review on the Scale-Up Methods for the Preparation of Solid Lipid Nanoparticles