Atorvastatin Loaded Solidlipid Nanoparticles: Formulation, Optimization, and in - vitro Characterization

–This study describes the formulation of Atorvastatin (ATRS) loaded solid lipid nanoparticles by hot homogenization fallowed by ultrasonication technique, and optimization of formulation and process parameters to formulate preferred SLN dispersions. The effects of composition of lipid materials, surfactant mixture and sonication time on particle size, PDI, zeta potential, drug entrapment efficiency, and in vitro drug release behavior were investigated The mean particles size, PDI, zeta potential and entrapment efficiency of optimized formulation (A5) was found to be 50.0± 6.12 nm, 0.08±0.011,10.40± 4.68mV, 88.7± 6.08 % respectively. To characterize the state of drug and lipid modification in ATRS loaded solidlipid nanoparticles, differential scanning calorimetry analysis was performed. Shape and surface morphology was determined by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) which revealed fairly spherical shape of nanoparticles. The in-vitro drug release study demonstrated that ATRS-SLN formulation (A5) possessed controlled drug release over a period of 24 hrs than dispersion of pure drug. Stability studies performed on the selected formulations revealed that there was no physical instability of the developed formulation for a period of 3 months at room and refrigerated temperatures. Keywords––Solid lipid nanoparticles, Atorvastatin, Ultrasonication and Entrapment Efficiency