Formulation And Evaluation of Solid Lipid Nanoparticles of Poorly Water-Soluble Drug Glimepiride by Hot Homogenization Technique

One of the third-generation sulfonylureas used to treat type 2 diabetes is glimepiride. Due to subtherapeutic plasma drug levels, glimepiride's poor water solubility and delayed rate of dissolution might cause unpredictable clinical responses or therapeutic failure in some circumstances. Solubility, dissolution rate, and biological performance of the medication were to be improved as a result of this investigation. Nanoparticle technology is extremely helpful for increasing a substance's solubility, permeability, and bioavailability. The SLNs of glimepiride were attempted to be prepared in the current study using Glyceryl behenate as the solid lipid, Poloxamer, and Tween 80 as the surfactant and co-surfactant, respectively. Successful incorporation of glimepiride into solid lipid nanoparticles exhibited improved solubility and dissolution. This is a result of the drug particle size being reduced to the nano level by high shear homogenization and lyophilization. Solid lipid nanoparticle stability is improved by lyophilization, and lyophilizates have good re-dispersibility after being sonicated for two minutes. Tween 80 and Poloxamer, when utilized as cosurfactants, have excellent wetting and surfactant properties that contribute to the drug's increased solubility. Based on the in-vitro dissolution of all four formulations—SLN1, SLN2, SLN3, SLN4, SLN5, and SLN6—in three distinct media—distilled water, 0.1 N HCl, and phosphate buffer pH 6.8—formulation optimization was carried out. FT-IR, DSC, XRD, SEM, TEM, Particle size, and zeta potential tests were performed on the improved formulation SLN5. The characterization study's findings were compiled and assessed for solubility improvement or bioavailability.