Avoidance of organic solvents |
Avoidance of organic solvents when desired |
Avoidance of organic solvents when desired |
Preparation and reproducibility |
Excellent reproducibility and feasible large-scale production |
Excellent reproducibility and feasible large-scale production with cost-effective high-pressure homogenization method as the preparation method6
|
Stability |
Increased stability of the active ingredient because of the rigid core lipid matrix8
|
Increased product stability of about 3 years7
|
Biodegradability |
Both liposomes and SLNs are biodegradable |
Lipids of SLNs are physiological and biodegradable, and hence have better biocompatibility and sterilization. On the other hand, polymeric nanoparticles may accumulate undesirably in the liver, spleen etc.9
|
Binding, entrapment and release |
SLNs impose greater entrapment efficiency for hydrophobic drugs (since they do not contain an aqueous core with lipid bilayer like liposomes) |
Drug delivery is extremely site specific for SLNs, whereas polymeric nanoparticles may produce non-specific drug delivery or show unpredictable release towards siRNAs10
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Ability to allow controlled release (similar to polymeric nanoparticles) and drug targeting by coating/attaching ligands to SLNs12
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11
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