Preparation and Quality Evaluation of Honokiol Nanoparticles Using a New Polysaccharide Polymer as its Carrier

Objective: To improve the solubility of Honokiol (HNK), Honokiol nanoparticles (HNK-NPs) were prepared using a new biodegradable polysaccharide polymer as its carrier.

Methods: HNK-NPs were prepared by hydrophilic polymer coagulation method, and the processing parameters were optimized according to average particle size and PDI by a single factor experiment. The morphology of the optimized nanoparticles was investigated by TEM, and the in vitro release was carried out to evaluate the optimized HNK-NPs.

Results: The encapsulation efficiency and drug loading of the HNK-NPs were 77.75 ± 2.63% and 13.46 ± 0.39%, respectively. The obtained nanoparticles of HNK-NPs were spherical-like under the electron microscope with a mean particle size of 198.50 ± 0.01 nm and a Zeta potential of -52.60 ± 1.00 mV. The in vitro release results showed that the cumulative release rates of nanoparticles were 48.28 ± 9.80% and 81.12 ± 4.35% within 2 h and 8 h, respectively, showing a stable release behavior. The average particle size and PDI of HNK-NPs solution prepared by the hydrophilic polymer condensation method had no obvious change at 72h.

Conclusion: HNK-NPs were successfully prepared by the phase separation method. This new polysaccharide polymer should be an ideal carrier to help improve the solubility of HNK.