Studies on lipid nanoparticle formulation of antihyperlipidemic drug

Abstract

Simvastatin is a biopharmaceutical classification system Class II drug which has less solubility and high permeability and therefore is slowly absorbed, which results in insufficient and uneven oral bioavailability. To overcome this limitation associated with the simvastatin, present work focuses on the formulation and evaluation of nanostructured lipid carriers of simvastatin which results in enhanced drug solubility and ultimately increased bioavailability. Simvastatin loaded nanostructured lipid carriers were produced by high shear homogenization coupled ultrasound method using Compritol 888ATO as solid lipid, Oleic acid as liquid lipid and surface tuned with non-ionic surfactant Tween 80. SIM loaded nanostructured lipid carriers were further characterised for mean particle size, polydispersity index, entrapment efficiency and drug release. The optimized formulation was evaluated for pharmacokinetics parameters such as C_max, t_max and AUC using suitable animal model. The study showed the potential of simvastatin loaded nanostructured lipid carriers as a carrier for enhancing the bioavailability of the drug as compared to the plain drug. This strategy can be used successfully in treatment of hypercholesterolemia.