Conventional and PEGylated Liposomes as Vehicles of Copaifera sabulicola

• Published in: Pharmaceutics Vol. 15; no. 2; p. 671
• Main Authors: Blanco, Ian M R, Barbosa, Raquel de Melo, Borges, Julita M P, de Melo, Silvio A B Vieira, El-Bachá, Ramon Dos Santos, Viseras, César, Severino, Patricia, Sanchez-Lopez, Elena, Souto, Eliana B, Cabral-Albuquerque, Elaine
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 16-02-2023; MDPI
• Subjects: antitumor activity; astrocytes; Brain cancer; copaiba oil; Copaifera spp; FDA approval; Lipids; liposomes; Nanoparticles; Oils & fats; Pharmaceuticals; Polyethylene glycol; Wound healing; Brazil; Rio de Janeiro Brazil; United Kingdom > UK; United States > US; Germany; copaiba oil; astrocytes; Copaifera spp; antitumor activity; liposomes
• ISSN: 1999-4923; 1999-4923
• DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics15020671

Traditional medicine uses resin oils extracted from plants of the genus
for several purposes. Resin oils are being studied to understand and profile their pharmacological properties. The aim of this work was to prepare and to characterize conventional and pegylated liposomes incorporating resin oils or the hexanic extract obtained from
(copaiba) leaves. The cytotoxic effect of these products was also investigated. Conventional and stealth liposomes with copaiba extract showed similar average diameters (around 126 nm), encapsulation efficiencies greater than 75% and were stable for 90 days. A cytotoxicity test was performed on murine glioma cells and the developed liposomes presented antiproliferative action against these cancer cells at the average concentration of 30 μg/mL. Phytochemicals encapsulated in PEGylated liposomes induced greater reduction in the viability of tumor cells. In addition, bioassay-s measured the cytotoxicity of copaiba resin oil (
) in liposomes (conventional and PEGylated), which was also checked against pheochromocytoma PC12 cells. Its safety was verified in normal rat astrocytes. The results indicate that liposomes encapsulating copaiba oil showed cytotoxic activity against the studied tumor strains in a dose-dependent fashion, demonstrating their potential applications as a chemotherapeutic bioactive formulation.