Study of solid lipid nanoparticles with respect to particle size distribution and drug loading

This work deals with the formulation and development of Solid Lipid Nanoparticles (SLN) using pressure homogenization technique, nimesulide being used as the model drug. Main emphasis of the work was to study the effect of individual process parameters (homogenization pressure and homogenization cycles) and formulation parameters (lipid concentration and surfactant concentration) on particle size distribution and drug loading. Particle size distribution data indicate that by optimizing the homogenization process and formulation parameters it is possible to produce SLN within a desired size range as required for carrier mediated drug targeting. Approaches to improve drug loading efficiency indicate that drug loading was higher in case of SLN prepared from glyceryl beheanate, palmitostearate and glyceryl tristearate + span 60 as compared to monoacid triglyceride (MAT) tristearate. Thermal analysis by differential scanning calorimetry of the drug loaded SLN indicates the solid nature of the lipid carrier as required for sustained drug release.