Design and Development of Solid Lipid Nanoparticles Drug Delivery Systems for Prolonged and Targeted Delivery of Fulvestrant

The research aims to design, formulate, and assess desired SLNs for poorly soluble anticancer drug Fulvestrant. The SLNs were made up of solid dispersion by high shear mixing and high pressure homogenization to make a very fine suspension. Drug loading, entrapment efficacy, particle size, and stability are the general parameters that were considered in this case for the different formulations; hence, optimization was performed through them. A good place to prove this preparation is an investigation of the saturation solubility of the Fulvestrant in various solvents, and subsequently determining which of them is clearly shown in 0.1 N HCl. Various observations of thermal analysis, that is DSC and XRD, indicated that the nanoparticles had stable, crystalline-like structure and, at the same time, favorable thermal properties. The optimized Batch B formulation was the one showing the highest drug loading and very high entrapment efficiency of about 70.8 and 95.2%, respectively. The particles normally had 150-nm size, while zeta potential was measured to be -220 mV. Ex-vivo diffusion studies successfully verified the drug release profiles of the nanoparticles, and the findings implied that Batch B exhibited 99.1% cumulative drug release for a 12-hour period. The pharmacokinetic studies indicated that the drug was released at a controlled rate and it had caused an increase in Tmax, which implied that there was an extended action of the drug. Stability studies verify Batch B as stable in both accelerated and long-term conditions. These studies flag the much value-adding potential of these SLNs as a good vehicle capable of delivering the improved pharmaceutical characteristics noted earlier for Fulvestrant. Keywords: Solid Lipid Nanoparticles, Fulvestrant, Drug Delivery, Microemulsion Technique, Sustained Release, Cancer Treatment, Pharmacokinetics, Stability Studies