PRELIMINARY FORMULATION STUDY OF LYCOPENE SELF-ASSEMBLE NANOPARTICLES VIA BOX-BEHNKEN DESIGN IMPARTING AN EFFICIENT DRUG DELIVERY: STATISTICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE APPROACH

Lycopene, a structurally polyene conjugated antioxidant,is frequentlyutilized for the treatment of ailments induced by augmentedoxidative stress.Its colossal structure and poor water-solubilityfailed to show the requisite clinical outcomes. To overcome these drawbacks a formulation study introducing Lycopene as Chitosan-phosphatidylserineself-assembled nanoparticles (LNP)to correlatethe dependent and independent variables employing Box-Behnken design has been performed. LNP formulation was achieved byinjection technique, using chitosan’s intrinsic property of towards Phosphatidylserine for self-assembly. Independent variables, i.e., chitosan concentration (X₁), Phosphatidylserine (X₂), and injecting rate (X₃) were correlatedagainst dependent variables (responses) nanoparticle size, cumulative release,and lycopene encapsulation. Prepared nanocrops were stable, under 300 nmparticle size, Zeta potential below +30 mV, close PDI to 0.3, and exhibited invitro 69-76% cumulative release. Overall, the formulation strategy was fruitful to develop a formulation in the future for efficient drug delivery.