Effect of The Surfactant and Liquid Lipid Type in The Physico-chemical Characteristics of Beeswax-based Nanostructured Lipid Carrier (NLC) of Metformin
Background: Metformin (MF) is an antidiabetic drug that belongs to class III of the biopharmaceutical classification system (BCS) which is characterized by high solubility and low permeability. Objective: The study aimed to prepare metformin as nanostructured lipid carriers (MF-NLCs) to control the drug release and enhance its permeability through the biological membrane. Method: 22 full factorial design was used to make the design of MF-NLCs formulations. MF-NLCs were prepared by hot-melt homogenization-ultra sonication technique using beeswax as solid lipid in presence of liquid lipid (either capryol 90 or oleic acid) and surfactant (either poloxamer 188 or tween 80). Results: The entrapment efficiency (EE%) of MF-NLCs was ranged from 85.2±2.5 to 96.5±1.8%. The particle size was in the nanoscale (134.6±4.1 to 264.1±4.6 nm). The value of zeta potential has a negative value ranged from -25.6±1.1 to -39.4±0.9 mV. The PDI value was in the range of (0.253±0.01 to 0.496±0.02). The cumulative drug release was calculated for MF-NLCs and it was found that Q12h ranged from 90.5±1.7 % for MF-NLC1 to 99.3±2.8 for MF-NLC4. Infra-red (IR) spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) studies revealed the compatibility of the drug with other ingredients. MF-NLC4 was found to the optimized formulation with the best responses. Conclusion: 22 full factorial design succeed to obtain an optimized formulation which controls the drug release and increases the drug penetration.