Development and Evaluation of Nefidipine Loaded Nanostructured Lipid Carriers (NLCs) For Bioavailability Enhancement

Nanostructured Lipid Carriers (NLCs) are new generation of lipid Nanoparticle system, which have showed various advantages over conventional Solid lipid nanoparticles as drug carrier, such as enhanced drug incorporation and release properties. NLCs of Nefidipine were prepared and investigated to estimate the potential of NLCs as an oral drug-delivery system. In this work, solvent injection technique was used to formulate Nefidipine–loaded NLCs. The Nefidipine loaded NLCs showed smooth surface with spherical morphology under scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) analysis. The higher encapsulation efficiency observed was 90.65±0.5 %. In In-Vitro release study, Nefidipine loaded NLCs exhibited a sustained release profile of Nefidipine and no burst release was observed. The oral bioavailability study was performed by using Wistar Albino rats. The relative bioavailability of Nefidipine loaded NLCs was found to be 3.9. In conclusion, the NLC formulation significantly enhanced the oral bioavailability of Nefidipine and revealed a positive aspect for oral delivery of poorly water soluble drugs.