Comparative study on the performance of monoolein cubic nanoparticles and trimyristin solid lipid nanoparticles as carriers for docetaxel

Abstract

Nowadays the application of lipid nanoparticles as carriers for the delivery of anticancer drugs gained great attention in cancer therapy. Solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN_s) and cubic nanoparticles (cubosomes) are considered as promising carriers in cancer therapy. The comparison of these two lipid nanoparticles as efficient carriers for the anticancer drug docetaxel was our main goal in this study. Both nanoparticles were prepared by the hot melt homogenization technique followed by measurement of particle size, zeta potential, entrapment efficiency and in vitro release of docetaxel. An advanced technique has been applied to measure the release of docetaxel from these nanoparticles using small unilamellar vesicles (SUV_s) as acceptor particles which resemble many compartments in our body. All prepared nanoparticles revealed a neutral zeta potential with particle sizes of about 200 nm. While SUV_s showed a negative surface charge with a zeta potential of −55 mV, cubosomes showed higher entrapment efficiency and a slower docetaxel release compared to SLN_s. Additionally, cubosomes improved in vitro cytotoxicity as well as the in vivo antitumor inhibition of docetaxel compared to SLN_s and docetaxel solution. Overall, our results showed that incorporation of docetaxel into cubosomes could enhance its in vitro and in vivo performance compared to docetaxel incorporated into SLN_s.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Cubosomes
• solid lipid nanoparticles
• docetaxel transfer
• cytotoxicity
• antitumor efficacy

Acknowledgement

The authors thank the Deanship of Scientific Research at Umm Al-Qura University for supporting this work by Grant Code: 23UQU4350488DSR01.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Data availability statement

All data are included in the manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Deanship of Scientific Research at Umm Al-Qura University under Grant code: 23UQU4350488DSR01.