Positive-charged solid lipid nanoparticles as paclitaxel drug delivery system in glioblastoma treatment

Paclitaxel loaded solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) of behenic acid were prepared with the coacervation technique. Generally, spherical shaped SLN with mean diameters in the range 300–600 nm were obtained. The introduction of charged molecules, such as stearylamine and glycol chitosan into the for- mulation allowed to obtain positive SLN with Zeta potential in the 8–20 mV range and encapsulation effi- ciency in the 25–90% range. Blood–brain barrier (BBB) permeability, tested in vitro through hCMEC/D3 cells monolayer, showed a significantly increase in the permeation of Coumarin-6, used as model drug, when vehicled in SLN. Posi- tive-charged SLN do not seem to enhance permeation although stearylamine-positive SLN resulted the best permeable formulation after 24 h. Cytotoxicity studies on NO3 glioblastoma cell line demonstrated the maintenance of cytotoxic activity of all paclitaxel-loaded SLN that was always unmodified or greater compared with free drug. No difference in cytotoxicity was noted between neutral and charged SLN. Co-culture experiments with hCMEC/D3 and different glioblastoma cells evidenced that, when deliv- ered in SLN, paclitaxel increased its cytotoxicity towards glioblastoma cells.