Development of Solid Lipid Nanoparticles for Praziquantel Delivery: Particle Size Characterization and Cell Toxicity Assessment

Praziquantel (PZQ) is a drug active against all species of Schistosoma and it is the drug of choice for the treatment of schistosomiasis [1]. [...

New Paradigms in the Treatment of Skin Infections: Lipid Nanocarriers to the Rescue

Lipid nanocarriers can be an effective drug delivery system for the treatment of skin infections by overcoming the pitfalls associated with conventional topical formulations and offer various advantages such as improved skin permeability, targeted delivery, minimal side effects, increased solubility and bioavailability. The major hurdle in current scenario is antimicrobial resistance which has led to treatment failure and high mortality. Lipid nanocarriers, in this context can be instrumental in the successful eradication of drug-resistant strains in the skin by fusing with cell membrane of infectious microbes and providing an intimate contact and delivering the anti-infective agent directly to the target site. Various lipid-based carriers include liposomes, transferosomes, ethosomes, solid lipid nanoparticles, nanostructured lipid carriers, microemulsion and nanoemulsion. This book chapter summarizes in brief the skin structure and various type of skin infections and then comprehensively describes various lipid nanocarriers and their application in the treatment of cutaneous infections

The effects of cholesterol and beta-sitosterol on the structure of saturated diacylphosphatidylcholine bilayers

The structures of DMPC and DPPC bilayers in unilamellar liposomes, in the presence of 33.3 mol% cholesterol or the plant sterol β-sitosterol, have been studied by small-angle neutron scattering. The bilayer thickness d(L) increases in a similar way for both sterols. The repeat distance in multilamellar liposomes, as determined by small-angle X-ray diffraction, is larger in the presence of β-sitosterol than in the presence of cholesterol. We observe that each sterol modifies the interlamellar water layer differently, cholesterol reducing its thickness more efficiently than β-sitosterol, and conclude that cholesterol suppresses bilayer undulations more effectively than β-sitosterol