Nanostructured Lipid Carrier-Based Delivery of Pioglitazone for Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes

Umair Ilyas; Muhammad Asif; Minglian Wang; Reem Altaf; Hajra Zafar; Mirza Muhammad Faran Ashraf Baig; Ana Cláudia Paiva-Santos; Muhammad Abbas

doi:10.3389/fphar.2022.934156

Nanostructured Lipid Carrier-Based Delivery of Pioglitazone for Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes

Front Pharmacol. 2022 Jul 12:13:934156. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2022.934156. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Umair Ilyas¹, Muhammad Asif¹, Minglian Wang², Reem Altaf³, Hajra Zafar⁴, Mirza Muhammad Faran Ashraf Baig⁵, Ana Cláudia Paiva-Santos^{6

7}, Muhammad Abbas¹

Affiliations

¹ Riphah Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Riphah International University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
² Faculty of Environment and Life Science, Beijing University of Technology, Bejing, China.
³ Department of Pharmacy, Iqra University Islamabad Campus, Islamabad, Pakistan.
⁴ School of Pharmacy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
⁵ Laboratory of Biomedical Engineering for Novel Bio-Functional, and Pharmaceutical Nano-Materials, Prince Philip Dental Hospital, Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
⁶ Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
⁷ REQUIMTE/LAQV, Group of Pharmaceutical Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.

Abstract

Pioglitazone (PGZ) is utilized as a therapeutic agent in the management of (type 2) diabetes to control blood glucose levels. The existing research work was intended to make and optimize PGZ-containing NLCs (nanostructured lipid carriers). The fabricated nanostructured lipid carrier preparation was optimized by using different concentrations of the surfactants (Tween 80 and Span 80) and solid lipid (Compritol^® 888 ATO) and liquid lipid (Labrasol^®) while keeping the concentration of drug (PGZ), and co-surfactants (poloxamer 188) the same. The optimized NLC formulation (PGZ-NLCs) was further assessed for physical and chemical characterization, in vitro PGZ release, and stability studies. The optimized PGZ-NLCs have shown an average diameter of 150.4 nm, EE of 92.53%, PDI value of 0.076, and zeta-potential of -29.1 mV, correspondingly. The DSC thermal analysis and XRD diffractograms had not presented the spectrum of PGZ, confirming the comprehensive encapsulation of PGZ in the lipid core. PGZ-NLCs showed significantly extended release (51% in 24 h) compared to the unformulated PGZ. Our study findings confirmed that PGZ-NLCs can be a promising drug delivery system for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.

Keywords: NLCs; diabetes; nanoparticles; pioglitazone; poor aqueous solubility.