Piperine-loaded solid lipid nanoparticles: a promising nano-phytomedicine for the treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Particle size, zeta potential, and drug entrapment efficiency of the optimized formula (F6) was found to be 191.2 ± 27.9 nm, - 20 ± 1.3 mV, 72.3% ± 2.8, respectively. Morphologically, the PIP-SLNs were found to be spherical. The optimized formulation (F6) exhibited sustained release up to 70% at 48 h, fitting the Higuchi model (R² = 0.976) indicative of diffusion-driven release, with a Korsmeyer-Peppas exponent (n = 0.63), further confirming anomalous diffusion-relaxation transport. Most importantly, the NAFLD study demonstrated a significant (p < 0.05) drop in blood glucose levels, serum markers (AST and ALT, p < 0.001), total cholesterol and triglycerides (p < 0.05), and also liver weight (p < 0.028), which was far superior to those elicited by plain PIP suspension. These findings reiterate the potential of solid lipid nanoparticles in increasing the bioavailability and thereby its hepatic circulation of PIP, which in turn, significantly enhanced its hepatoprotective effect in NAFLD.