Evaluation Of In Vivo Anti-Inflammatory And Analgesic Effects Of N-Palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) Loaded Nanostructured Lipid Carriers (NLC)

Carmelo PUGLIA, University of Catania

N-Palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) is the amide of palmitic acid and ethanolamine, is one of the most investigated molecule belonging to the fatty acid esters (FAEs) family. It is a natural molecule presents in soy seeds and other vegetables and it showed great therapeutic potential in the treatment of inflammation and pain. Unfortunately, its unfavourable pharmacokinetics properties limit its use in the clinical practice. To overcome these limits, PEA has been included in nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC) and studied for a potential topical application for the skin disease management. PEA loaded NLC were produced and characterized to evaluate their mean size, -potential, thermal behaviour, and morphology. The ability of N-palmitoylethanolamide to diffuse across the epidermis as well as anti- inflammatory and analgesic effects were investigated. Particles had a mean size of about 150 nm and a   -potential of −40 mV.  DSC data confirmed the solid state of the matrix and the embedding of N-palmitoylethanolamide while electron microscopy has evidenced a peculiar internal structure (i.e., low-electrondense spherical objects within the matrix) that can be reliably ascribed to the presence of oil nanocompartments. Lipid nanoparticles increased N-palmitoylethanolamide percutaneous diffusion and prolonged the anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects in vivo.  NLCs seem a good nanotechnology-based strategy to bring PEA to clinics.

 
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