Scientific Reports (Nov 2021)

A pre-formulation study of tetracaine loaded in optimized nanostructured lipid carriers

  • Simone R. Castro,
  • Lígia N. M. Ribeiro,
  • Márcia C. Breitkreitz,
  • Viviane A. Guilherme,
  • Gustavo H. Rodrigues da Silva,
  • Hery Mitsutake,
  • Ana C. S. Alcântara,
  • Fabiano Yokaichiya,
  • Margareth K. K. D. Franco,
  • Daniel Clemens,
  • Ben Kent,
  • Marcelo Lancellotti,
  • Daniele R. de Araújo,
  • Eneida de Paula

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-99743-6
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 1
pp. 1 – 15

Abstract

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Abstract Tetracaine (TTC) is a local anesthetic broadly used for topical and spinal blockade, despite its systemic toxicity. Encapsulation in nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC) may prolong TTC delivery at the site of injection, reducing such toxicity. This work reports the development of NLC loading 4% TTC. Structural properties and encapsulation efficiency (%EE > 63%) guided the selection of three pre-formulations of different lipid composition, through a 23 factorial design of experiments (DOE). DLS and TEM analyses revealed average sizes (193–220 nm), polydispersity ( 48 h) and reducing TTC cytotoxicity against Balb/c 3T3 cells.