sitagliptin-loaded solid lipid nanoparticle for controlling neuroinflammation related to alzheimer’s disease

Aim and background: alzheimer’s disease (ad) is a neurological disorder that is a primary form of dementia and may contribute to about a third of the cases. it is found that increased inflammation is present in ad brains even before cognitive impairment symptoms. it is known that tnf-α is a key protein in the inflammation pathway which is mainly produced by microglia in the brain. sitagliptin as an oral anti-diabetic drug is reported to have anti-inflammatory properties from both dpp-4 inhibition-dependent and independent pathways.methods: slns were prepared by melting cetyl palmitate at 59° c and addition of sitagliptin. meanwhile, polysorbate 80 was dispersed in water and warmed up to 59° c. then, these two phases were mixed gradually and underwent homogenization and sonication to form sitagliptin-loaded slns. the obtained slns were tested by their various characteristics including loading, xrd, ir spectroscopy, dsc, tem, dls, and release profile. results and discussion: sitagliptin-loaded nanoparticles had a size range of about 100 nm and drug loading of about 80%. based on the results of other tests it is observable that slns are stable and sitagliptin is loaded inside their structure. moreover, slns can provide a long-lasting profile of sitagliptin release, which results in more efficient inhibition of neuroinflammation.conclusion: it seems that sitagliptin-loaded sln is a good system to deliver enough amounts of the drug to the brain in a steady manner and long time.