Synthesis of Polymer-Coated Lutein Particles for Therapeutic Applications

Abstract

Lutein is one of the naturally occurring carotenoids with strong anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and neuroprotective properties. This bioactive plant chemical plays a vital role in photoprotction from light and oxidative substances, as well as helping to maintain the structure and functionality of cell membranes, enabling it to perform vital physiological functions. However, because of its lipophilicity and decreased stability from its conjugated double bonds, it has limited bioavailability, poor aqueous solubility, and low stability, which pose significant challenges for clinical applications. The synthesis and characterization of lutein nanoparticles are covered in the current study. A polymer, stabilizer, and crosslinking agent are used to synthesize the lutein-loaded nanoparticles. The produced nanoparticles have shown high encapsulation efficiency (91.14±0.5%) and the lutein drug loading of ≈50%. Furthermore, Thermal analysis through DSC, TG, and DTG showed no thermal changes in lutein nanoparticles till the temperature of 280.4 °C, while the weight loss was 33.13% with the residue mass of 66.87% at 280.4 °C. The DTG thermogram exhibited several overlapping degradation peaks, indicating that thermal decomposition of the lutein nanoparticles proceeded through a multistep mechanism. The results present a platform for the development of lutein-loaded polymeric particles with increased thermal stability and drug loading capability.