A Short Review on the Important Aspects Involved in Preparation, Characterization and Application of Nanostructured Lipid Carriers for Drug Delivery

Background: The development of modern medical and pharmaceutical science has garnered lots of attention due to the development of targeted therapy and precision medicine. The current focus of the researchers is on developing strategies which provide the maximum therapeutic benefits with minimal adverse effects. In this scenario, nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC) have gained prominence because of their ability to improve the therapeutic properties of the drugs. Objective: In this review, we focus on some of the important methods involved in the preparation and characterization of the NLCs. We also discuss the application of NLC as a drug delivery system through different routes of administration and its role in overcoming the physiological and anatomical barriers. Methods: The literature was collected from different scientific browsers like sciencedirect, google scholar, pubmed and a total of 155 articles were read and analysed for the content. Results: The NLC improve the solubility and bioavailability of the drug, prolong the release and residence time and delay clearance. They also protect the drugs from enzymatic degradation and allow them to pass through different anatomical and physiological barriers. Conclusion: Though the use of NLCs has been reported across different therapeutic indications through various routes of administration, this success at the laboratory level has not gone to the next stage. One of the reasons for the failure of NLC formulations to progress to the next level could be due to toxicity caused by the accumulation of NLCs in organs. Hence, in order to utilize this strategy to its maximum potential, further research is inevitable.