Hepatocarcinoma, a malignant cancer, threaten human life badly. It is a current issue to seek the effective natural remedy from plant to treat cancer due to the resistance of the advanced hepatocarcinoma to chemotherapy. Berberine (Ber), an isoquinoline derivative alkaloid, has a wide range of pharmacological properties and is considered to have anti-hepatocarcinoma effects. However its low oral bioavailability restricts its wide application. In this report, Ber loaded nanostructured lipid carriers (Ber-NLC) was prepared by hot melting and then high pressure homogenization technique. Both in vitro and in vivo anti-hepatocarcinoma effects of Ber-NLC relative to efficacy of bulk Ber were evaluated. The particle size and zeta potential of Ber-NLC were 189.3 nm and −19.3 mV, respectively. MTT assay showed that Ber-NLC effectively inhibited the proliferation of H22 cells, and the corresponding IC⁵⁰ values were 6.3 μg/ml (22.1 μg/ml of bulk Ber). In vivo studies also showed higher antitumor efficacy, and inhibition rates was 68.3 % (41.4 % of bulk Ber) at 100 mg/kg intragastric administration in the H22 solid tumor bearing mice. These results suggest that the delivery of Ber-NLC is a promising approach for treating tumors.

Date Published: 9 March 2015
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 9324, Biophotonics and Immune Responses X, 93240Y (9 March 2015); doi: 10.1117/12.2079107

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9324:
Biophotonics and Immune Responses X
Wei R. Chen, Editor(s)