Formulation and optimization of folate-bovine serum albumin-coated ethoniosomes of pterostilbene as a targeted drug delivery system for lung cancer: In vitro and in vivo demonstrations

This study aimed to overcome the poor solubility of pterostilbene (PTS) by developing promising reconstituted proethoniosomes (PENs). The reconstituted PENs loaded with PTS were fabricated according to a 23 factorial design by Design-Expert ® software. The prepared ethoniosomes were assessed for entrapment efficiency (EE %) and % PTS released after 24 h (Q24h). According to the desirability criteria, the ethoniosomal formula (F4) was chosen as the optimized formulation with EE% of 93.19  ± 0.66 and Q24h of 75.10  ± 1.90%. The optimum ethoniosomal formulation was further coated with folic acid (FA) using bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a carrier and stabilizing agent and further evaluated for transmission electron microscopy (TEM), particle size, zeta potential, elasticity, Fourier transform infrared spec troscopy (FTIR), and stability. The targeted ethoniosomal formula appeared as spherical nanovesicles with a size of 144.05 ± 1.77 nm size and a zeta potential of -38.6 mV. The elasticity of the targeted ethoniosomal formula 19.27 ± 1.2 was higher than that of the corresponding niosome 1. 48 ± 0.02. The targeted ethoniosomal formula showed high stability for three months. Fluorescence microscopy demonstrated an accumulation of FA-BSA-ethoniosomes in the cytoplasm of A549 cell lines. The observed therapeutic activity of the targeted ethoniosomal formula on lung cancer was explore d by in vitro cytotoxicity on A549 lung cancer cells and in vivo animal ...
Source: Cancer Nanotechnology - Category: Cancer & Oncology Source Type: research