Nanostructured Poly-l-lactide and Polyglycerol Adipate Carriers for the Encapsulation of Usnic Acid: A Promising Approach for Hepatoprotection

Overview

Journal Polymers (Basel)

Publisher MDPI

Date 2024 Feb 10

PMID 38337316

Authors

Benedetta Brugnoli

Greta Perna

Sara Alfano

Antonella Piozzi

Luciano Galantini

Eleni Axioti

Vincenzo Taresco

Alessia Mariano

Anna Scotto dAbusco

Stefano Vecchio Ciprioti

Iolanda Francolini

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The present study investigates the utilization of nanoparticles based on poly-l-lactide (PLLA) and polyglycerol adipate (PGA), alone and blended, for the encapsulation of usnic acid (UA), a potent natural compound with various therapeutic properties including antimicrobial and anticancer activities. The development of these carriers offers an innovative approach to overcome the challenges associated with usnic acid's limited aqueous solubility, bioavailability, and hepatotoxicity. The nanosystems were characterized according to their physicochemical properties (among others, size, zeta potential, thermal properties), apparent aqueous solubility, and in vitro cytotoxicity. Interestingly, the nanocarrier obtained with the PLLA-PGA 50/50 weight ratio blend showed both the lowest size and the highest UA apparent solubility as well as the ability to decrease UA cytotoxicity towards human hepatocytes (HepG2 cells). This research opens new avenues for the effective utilization of these highly degradable and biocompatible PLLA-PGA blends as nanocarriers for reducing the cytotoxicity of usnic acid.

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