Bupivacaine-loaded nanostructured lipid carriers prepared with beeswax, lavender or melaleuca oil: characterization and physico-chemical stability

Resumo

Although bupivacaine (BVC) is one of the most widely used anesthetics worldwide, improving its therapeutic efficacy without increasing the clinical doses may open possibilities for new applications for this drug. In this study, we prepared innovative formulations: nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC) functionalized with beeswax, lavender or melaleuca oil in order to increase the anesthetic efficiency of BVC. For this, after preparation and characterization of the NLC by dynamic light scattering and determination of the encapsulation efficiency (% EE), stability was monitored during 12 months. The NLC showed appropriate physical-chemical features, with high %EE and stability. The developed formulations proved to be good candidates to increase the therapeutic efficacy of BVC so that further in vitro and in vivo tests are under course to evaluate their advantages, in comparison to the commercial BVC formulation.