Preparation, Characterization, and In Vitro Release of Chloramphenicol Loaded Solid Lipid Nanoparticles

Abstract

In the present contribution, solid lipid nanoparticles have been prepared from oil-in-water microemulsion, using various monoglycerides (monocaprate, monolaurate and monomyristin) as solid matrix, polyethylene glycol sorbitan monooleate (Tween 80) as emulsifier, and chloramphenicol as target drug. The morphology and microstructure of drug loaded SLNs were investigated by use of the transmission electron microscope (TEM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. The pictures of TEM showed that SLNs are spherical particles, and the average diameters measured by dynamic light scattering (DLS) were under 100 nm. The crystallographic properties of them were characterized by XRD. It was found that chloramphenicol do not exist in crystalline state in SLN. Both drug-free and drug-loaded SLN existed in amorphous state. In addition, zeta potentials of SLNs were investigated. Zeta potentials of all the samples were around −6 to −23 mv. Further more, the core-shell model with drug enriched shell was proposed for the present system. Release kinetics of chloramphenicol from SLN showed a relative fast release in the initial several hours, and the release profile was accordance with the drug incorporation model we presented. Effects of types and concentration of lipids, and surface modifiers on drug release behavior were studied.

Keywords:

• Chloramphenicol
• in vitro release
• microemulsion
• solid lipid nanoparticles

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Natural Scientific Foundation of China (Grant No. 50472069), the key scientific project from Education Ministry (106100).

Notes

^a The weights of the components in this table are the values preparing O/W microemulsion.