Oral Efficacy of a Diselenide Compound Loaded in Nanostructured Lipid Carriers in a Murine Model of Visceral Leishmaniasis

Leishmaniasis urgently needs new oral treatments, as it is one of the most important neglected tropical diseases that affects people with poor resources. The drug discovery pipeline for oral administration currently discards entities with poor aqueous solubility and permeability (class IV compounds in the Biopharmaceutical Classification System, BCS) such as the diselenide , a trypanothione reductase (TR) inhibitor. This work was assisted by glyceryl palmitostearate and diethylene glycol monoethyl ether-based nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC) to render bioavailable and effective after its oral administration. The loading of in NLC drastically enhanced its intestinal permeability and provided plasmatic levels higher than its effective concentration (IC). In infected BALB/c mice, -NLC reduced the parasite burden in the spleen, liver, and bone marrow by at least 95% after 5 doses, demonstrating similar efficacy as intravenous Fungizone. Overall, compound and its formulation merit further investigation as an oral treatment for visceral leishmaniasis.