Anandamide-loaded nanoparticles: Preparation and characterization

Abstract

Objective: Preparation and characterization of anandamide (N-arachidonoyl-ethanolamine, AEA) loaded polycaprolactone nanoparticles (PCL NP) as a research tool to clarify the presence of an AEA transporter in cell membranes and to avoid AEA plastic adsorption and instability.

Materials and methods: High performance liquid chromatography and light scattering were used to determine encapsulation efficiency, particle size, drug release, permeability and stability.

Results: A high encapsulation efficiency 96.05 ± 1.77% and a particle size of 83.52 ± 21.38 nm were obtained. Nearly 40% of AEA remained in the NP after a 99.9% dilution and only 50% was released after 24 h at 37°C with a 99% dilution. PCL NP prevented the adsorption of the drug to polypropylene or polystyrene, but not to acrylic multiwell plates. Drug permeability through artificial membranes was low (10⁻⁷ to 10⁻⁸ cm/s) and was affected by the presence of NP. NP increased AEA stability in suspension (drug half-life 431 h vs. 12 h) and freeze-dried with 5% sucrose.

Conclusion: This article presents the first study where stable AEA-loaded NP with high encapsulation efficiencies have been obtained.

• Polycaprolactone
• poloxamer
• delivery
• targeting

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Erratum

Acknowledgements

D. Hernán thanks the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science for the FPU fellowship. The authors are grateful to Gennaro Gentile from the Istituto di Chimica e Tecnologia dei Polimeri (ICTP)-CNR (Pozzuoli, Napoli) for his collaboration in SEM.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflict of interest related to the data submitted in this manuscript.