Preparation of basil seed mucilage aerogels loaded with paclitaxel nanoparticles by the combination of phase inversion technique and gas antisolvent process

Objective(S): In this work, paclitaxel (PX), a promising anticancer drug, was loaded in the basil seed mucilage (BSM) aerogels by implementation of supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) technology. Then, the effects of operating conditions were studied on the PX mean particle size (MPS), particle size distribution (PSD) and drug loading efficiency (DLE). Methods: The employed SC-CO2 process in this research is the combination of phase inversion technique and gas antisolvent (GAS) process. The effect of DMSO/water ratio (4 and 6 (v/v)), pressure (10-20 MPa), CO2 addition rate (1–3 mL/min) and ethanol concentration (5-10%) were studied on MPS, PSD and DLE. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Zetasizer were used for particle analysis. DLE was investigated by utilizing the high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Results: Nanoparticles of paclitaxel (MPS of 82–131 nm depending on process variables) with narrow PSD were successfully loaded in BSM aerogel with DLE of 28–52%. Experimental results indicated that higher DMSO/water ratio, ethanol concentration, pressure and CO2 addition rate reduced MPS and DLE. Conclusions: A modified semi batch SC-CO2 process based on the combination of gas antisolvent process and phase inversion methods using DMSO as co-solvent and ethanol as a secondary solvent was developed for the loading of an anticancer drug, PX, in ocimum basilicum mucilage aerogel. The experimental results determined that the mean particle size, particle size distribution, and drug loading efficiency be controlled with operating conditions.