Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is a global health concern. Tuberculosis resistance to at least isoniazid and rifampicin from the first-line anti-tuberculosis drugs defined as multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), is one of the main challenges societies are faced with which necessitates further research on developing novel formulations against TB. Paromomycin (PM) is an aminoglycoside effective against tuberculosis. Although PM is safe and low-priced, there are some limiting factors which can result in its low efficacy. In this direction, development of efficient delivery systems seems to be useful. Solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) have some suitable properties such as low cost, small size and high capacity for drug loading. So, in this study the anti-tuberculosis effect of solid lipid nanoparticles loaded by paromomycin (PM-SLN) was investigated.
Methods: For this aim, paromomycin sulfate (PM), was formulated in solid lipid nanoparticles through micro-emulsion technique. The physicochemical properties of PM-SLN formulation were determined. In-vitro efficacy of different concentrations of PM-SLN formulation was investigated against
Mycobacterium bovis. Ciprofloxacin and paromomycin utilized as the positive control. IC
50 of the formulations were evaluated to show the efficacy of formulations.
Results: According to obtained results, PM-SLN formulation has acceptable physicochemical properties. Also, the results of the in-vitro studies proved that PM-loaded SLN is significantly more effective in comparison to free PM and ciprofloxacin as a gold standard agent for tuberculosis therapies.
Conclusion: This study confirmed that the PM-SLN formulation can be used in the tuberculosis treatment plan as an efficient formulation with low toxicity.