Objective: The decline in the use of herbal medicine especially in the Western world may be due to lack of readily available market brand formulations and the fact that most herbal remedies are taken as tea, decoctions and infusions. The taste of some of these herbal drugs is not palatable, and some have unpleasant odour and colour hence, the need to formulate these drugs in form of encapsulated dosage forms. The objective of the work was to formulate solid lipid microparticles (SLMs) loaded with the methanolic extract of Garcinia kola seed. Methods: The SLMs containing 1 and 3 % of Garcinia kola seed extract were formulated using fat from Capra hircus and Phospholipon® 90H (3:1). The particle morphology and size, encapsulation efficiency (EE%), pH, in vitro release and the inhibition zone diameter (IZD) of the SLMs were determined. Results: The results showed that the extract was very bitter while, the encapsulated G. kola had slight bitter taste. The pH remained in the acidic region from 1 to 30 days. Particle size of 28.65 ± 1.13 and 29.49 ± 1.24 µm were obtained for SLMs loaded with 1 and 3 % of the extract respectively. SLMs had high EE% of 94 % and also exhibited good release of the extract in simulated intestinal fluid (SIF, pH 7.2). Garcinia kola-loaded SLMs had good activity against Staphylococcus aureus and no action against Escherichia coli. Conclusion: Therefore, Garcinia kola seed extract could be formulated as SLMs in order to mask its bitter taste and improve compliance. Â
