PRELIMINARY FORMULATION STUDY OF LYCOPENE SELF-ASSEMBLE NANOPARTICLES VIA BOX-BEHNKEN DESIGN IMPARTING AN EFFICIENT DRUG DELIVERY: STATISTICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE APPROACH

Lycopene, a structurally polyene conjugated antioxidant,is frequentlyutilized for the treatment of ailments induced by augmentedoxidative stress.Its colossal structure and poor water-solubilityfailed to show the requisite clinical outcomes. To overcome these drawbacks a formulation study introducing Lycopene as Chitosan-phosphatidylserineself-assembled nanoparticles (LNP)to correlatethe dependent and independent variables employing Box-Behnken design has been performed. LNP formulation was achieved byinjection technique, using chitosan’s intrinsic property of towards Phosphatidylserine for self-assembly. Independent variables, i.e., chitosan concentration (X1), Phosphatidylserine (X2), and injecting rate (X3) were correlatedagainst dependent variables (responses) nanoparticle size, cumulative release,and lycopene encapsulation. Prepared nanocrops were stable, under 300 nmparticle size, Zeta potential below +30 mV, close PDI to 0.3, and exhibited invitro 69-76% cumulative release. Overall, the formulation strategy was fruitful to develop a formulation in the future for efficient drug delivery.