Bovine Serum Albumin Nanoparticles for the Efficient Delivery of Berberine: Preparation, Characterization and In vitro biological studies

Berberine (BBR) is a naturally occurring plant-derived isoquinoline alkaloid. It has been reported to exhibit multiple pharmacological properties including anticancer activity. However, its low water solubility and bioavailability restrict its clinical use for cancer treatment. Hence, to overcome these limitations and enhance its therapeutic efficacy, in the present study we have encapsulated BBR in Bovine Serum Albumin nanoparticles (BSA NPs) by desolvation method. The average particle size of synthesized nanoparticles were found to be 116 and 166 nm for BSA NPs and BBR-BSA NPs respectively. The FESEM images of nanoparticles implied that prepared nanoparticles are of spherical shape and size was validated. The drug entrapment efficiency of prepared nanoparticles was found to be 85.65 % with a drug loading capacity of 7.78 %. The FTIR spectra, XRD patterns and thermograms of DSC and TGA confirms the synthesis of BBR-BSA NPs and its entrapment in amorphous form. The stability studies of BBR-BSA NPs suggests that nanoparticles were quite stable in aqueous solution of pH 7.4 and degraded under acidic condition (pH 5). The in vitro cytotoxicity assay and Trypan blue assay proved that the prepared BBR-BSA NPs were selectively toxic towards breast cancer cells and kill the cells more efficiently as compared to pure BBR. The cellular uptake studies and AO/EtBr staining suggest that BBR-BSA NPs were therapeutically more effective and improve the anticancer activity of BBR by delivering it to target site, for potential therapeutic use. All the above information collectively suggests that BBR-BSA NPs may emerge as a novel paradigm for treatment of breast cancer.