Physicochemical Characterization, Release and Penetration Study of Nanostructured Lipid Carriers Quercetin Incorporated into Membrane-Type Patches

Quercetin is a bioactive flavonoid that possesses anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and osteoarthritic properties. Nevertheless, quercetin does possess several limitations, including poor solubility, degradation in the gastrointestinal tract, and inadequate transdermal absorption. To address this issue, quercetin is incorporated into a nanostructured lipid carrier (NLC). The NLC is then enclosed in a membrane patch, which acts as a reservoir to maintain the stability of the drug content. The aim of this study was to investigate the physicochemical properties, release kinetics, and penetration of quercetin when formulated as NLC and incorporated into a membrane-type patch. Quercetin-loaded NLC was manufactured utilizing high shear homogenization using stearic acid as the solid lipid and oleic acid as the liquid lipid in various ratios such as 6:4, 7:3, and 8:2. Furthermore, the NLC was poured over the drug reservoir in a 3.8 cm diameter backing layer mold and covered with membrane solution. The physicochemical characteristics evaluated include particle size, polydispersity index, pH, viscosity, zeta potential, entrapment efficiency, thickness, humidity, flatness, drug content, homogeneity, release study and penetration. The result showed that Formula 1 had good characteristics among other formulas with a particle size of 533 ± 50 nm, PDI of 0.343 ± 0.01, viscosity of 322 ± 12 cps, pH of 5.84 ± 0.07, thickness of 0.32 ± 0.02 mm and produced the highest release and flux penetration, namely 0.6517 ± 0.02 μg/cm²/min and 0.0013 μg/cm²/min, respectively. NLC as reservoir in membrane-type patch with higher concentration of liquid lipids could increase release and flux penetration.