EVALUATION OF LIPID MISCIBILITY FOR ARTEPILLIN C ENCAPSULATION IN NANOSTRUCTURED LIPID CARRIERS (NLC) BY HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY (HPLC)

Artepillin C, the major compound of Brazilian green propolis, exhibits high efficiency in biological activities conducted in vitro due to its therapeutic potentials. However, it has low absorption and bioavailability efficiency when administered orally or topically in vivo, owing to its lipophilicity, which compromises its activity in tumor tissues. Nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs), a second generation of lipid nanoparticles, have emerged as promising options in biomedical applications, demonstrating a significant capacity for drug encapsulation. This study aims to evaluate the influence of lipid miscibility on the drug encapsulation efficiency, based on the premise that a drug miscible with the lipids distributes uniformly within the lipid matrix, resulting in more efficient encapsulation. The solubility of the drug in the lipids determines its ability to incorporate into the lipid matrix without crystallizing or separating. The miscibility test was conducted with concentrations of 2%, 4%, and 6% of the solid and liquid lipids, stearic acid and oleic acid, respectively, with samples kept under agitation for 24 hours. The same procedure was followed for the solid lipid myristyl myristate and the liquid lipid miglyol. After the designated time, it was observed that the three samples with different concentrations of the first lipids showed phase separation, while the samples with the second lipids remained homogeneous. The evaluation was performed using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) to verify encapsulation efficiency, revealing low efficiency for NLCs containing stearic acid and oleic acid, and high efficiency for samples with myristyl myristate and miglyol. Thereby, lipid miscibility proved to be a determining factor for the successful encapsulation of drugs.