Paclitaxel loaded Capmul MCM and tristearin based nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) for glioblastoma treatment: screening of formulation components by quality by design (QbD) approach

Paclitaxel (PTX), a naturally occurring diterpenoid isolated from Taxus brevifolia, is a first-line drug for the treatment of glioblastoma; however, it suffers from the disadvantages of poor water solubility and nonspecific biodistribution, which cause serious side effects in the human body. The marketed formulation suffers from serious side effects, such as allergic reactions, neutropenia, and neuropathy, which require safe and effective formulations of PTX. In the present study, PTX was entrapped in a solid–liquid lipid mixture with the aid of a surfactant using a modified solvent evaporation technique. Higher entrapment of the impressive stability of the formulation was achieved by employing quality design-based strategies. Optimized levels by employing a numerical optimization technique for each factor, that is, surfactant concentration (X1), lipid concentration (X2), and amount of organic solvent (X3) were 0.3%, 0.76% & 8.3 ml respectively. The resultant formulation exhibited a particle size of 121.44 nm, entrapment efficiency of 94.27%, and zeta potential of −20.21 mV with unimodal size distribution. A reduction in the % crystalline index from 48 to 3.4% ensured the amorphous form of the entrapped drug inside the formulation, which precludes the fear of leakage and instability of the formulation. Cell line studies conducted on U87MG Cell lines also suggested that the NLC of paclitaxel are more effective than those of pure PTX. In summary, PTXNLC seem to be a superior alternative carrier system for the formulation industry to obtain higher entrapment with excellent stability.