Solid lipid nanoparticles

Solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) are the superseding drug delivery system in the nanotechnology sphere. SLNs has been developed at the beginning of 1990s with potential applications in the field of pharmaceuticals, cosmeceuticals, clinical medicine along with research as a substitute to the traditional colloidal carrier systems such as emulsions, liposomes since they exclude those downsides of the traditional system. SLN s offers a great way for controlled drug delivery and site targeting drug delivery as well. This article gives general information about the solid lipid nanoparticles, their production procedures and characterization. In addition to that, the recent advancements of drug delivery systems using SLNs were reviewed.

Solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) and nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC) are attracting increasing attention as colloidal drug carriers for intravenous application. In order to obtain information on their potential in-vivo performance, a simple and effective in-vitro assay that mimics the environment encountered by the drug upon administration is required. In this study, unilamellar vesicles as a lipophilic acceptor compartment were used for such investigations. Trimyristin (D114) and Miglyol oil were chosen as the solid and liquid lipid respectively and porphyrin was used as a model lipophilic drug. Properties of these lipid nanoparticles such as particle size and its distribution, zeta potential and entrapment efficiency were investigated. The determination of the transferred drug to the acceptor particles was performed after the separation between the donor and acceptor particles on an ion exchange column. As a result, the entrapment efficiency was improved by adding liquid lipid to the solid lipid. On the other hand, both population donor and acceptor were effectively separated using ion exchange columns. Higher amount of porphyrin was transferred from the donor NLC to the acceptor in comparison with SLN. On the contrary, the transfer rate constant from the donor SLN was slightly higher than from NLC. These results indicate that the Ion exchange column is a suitable technique to study the transfer of lipophilic drug models but one of the two populations donor or acceptor should be charged. In addition, NLC could be used as a colloidal lipid carrier with improved drug loading capacity. 

Solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) introduced in 1991 represent an alternative carrier system to traditional colloidal carriers, such as emulsions, liposomes and polymeric micro- and nanoparticles. SLN are aqueous colloidal dispersions, the matrix of which comprises of solid biodegradable lipids. These lipid nanoparticles modify drug release, body distribution and kinetics of associated drugs. solid lipid nanoparticles hold great promise for reaching the goal of controlled and site specific drug delivery and hence have attracted wide attention of researchers. This review presents a broad treatment of solid lipid nanoparticles discussing their advantages, limitations, production techniques, drug incorporation, loading capacity and drug release, characterization and applications. The potential of SLN to be exploited for the different administration routes is highlighted also. Key words:  Solid lipid nanoparticles , colloidal drug carriers, homogenization, Drug Targeting.