Solid Lipid Nanoparticles: a Review

Solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) are at the forefront of the rapidly developing field of nanotechnology with several potential applications in drug delivery and research. Due to their unique size dependent properties, lipid nanoparticles offer possibility to develop new therapeutics. The ability to incorporate drugs into nanocarriers offers a new prototype in drug delivery that could use for drug targeting. Hence solid lipid nanoparticles hold great promise for reaching the goal of controlled and site specific drug delivery and hence attracted wide attention of researchers. This review presents a broad treatment of solid lipid nanoparticles discussing their aims, production procedures, advantages, limitations and their possible remedies. Appropriate analytical techniques for the characterization of SLN like photon correlation spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry are highlighted. Aspects of SLN route of administration and the in vivo fate of the carriers are also discussed.