Journal of Bioequivalence & Bioavailability

Abstract

Novel Encapsulation of Lycopene in Niosomes and Assessment of its Anticancer Activity

Sharma PK, Saxena P, Jaswanth A, Chalamaiah M, Tekade KR and Balasubramaniam A

The lycopene is a naturally occurring bioactive constituent of Lycopersicum esculentum and its use in the prevention of cancer and diabetes. Developing effective therapy using a natural product like lycopene against cancer is an active area of research. The pure lycopene is susceptible to light, heat and oxidants, which limit its therapeutic applications. In the present investigation, a novel approach for lycopene encapsulation using glass wool (adsorptionhydration method) is represented. The niosome formulation was prepared to preserve the activity of lycopene and to improve the bioavailability. The niosomes were characterized by in vitro studies like entrapment efficiency, particle size, drug release profile, zeta potential, stability studies, etc., and in vivo bioavailability study. The anti-proliferative efficacy of formulation was evaluated against MCF-7 and HeLa cell lines which exhibited an excellent response in a dose-dependent manner. The apoptosis assay demonstrated that anti-proliferative activity occurred due to an apoptotic pathway, which revealed the potential in formulation development of lycopene against cancer. The overall results indicate that the methodology for the formulation of lycopene niosomes is promising and very effective. It has the potential for wider applications along with the fact that, the method used for active drug loading into niosomes strongly influences the pharmaceutical performance of the formulation.