In vitro investigations on dopamine loaded Solid Lipid Nanoparticles

[Display omitted] •Dopamine Solid lipid nanoparticles were prepared with the adhesive glycol chitosan.•Glycol chitosan-Dopamine solid lipid nanoparticles showed 81 % of neurotransmitter content.•Thermal analysis evidenced high stability of lipid carrier and entrapped Dopamine.•In 48 h in buffer intact Dopamine was released from solid lipid nanoparticles.•Overall, ATR and TGA analyses highlighted the effectiveDA entrapment in SLN. The progressive degeneration of nigrostriatal neurons leads to depletion of the neurotransmitter dopamine (DA) in Parkinson's disease (PD). The hydrophilicity of DA, hindering its cross of the Blood Brain Barrier, makes impossible its therapeutic administration. This work aims at investigating some physicochemical features of novel Solid Lipid Nanoparticles (SLN) intended to enhance DA brain delivery for PD patients by intranasal administration. For this aim, novel SLN were formulated in the presence of Glycol Chitosan (GCS), and it was found that SLN containing GCS and DA were smaller than DA-loaded SLN, endowed with a slightly positive zeta potential value and, remarkably, incorporated 81 % of the initial DA content. The formulated SLN were accurately characterized by Infrared Spectroscopy in Attenuated Total Reflectance mode (FT-IT/ATR) and Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) to highlight SLN solid-state properties as a preliminary step forward biological assay. Overall, in vitro characterization shows that SLN are promising for DA incorporation and stable from a thermal viewpoint. Further studies are in due course to test their potential for PD treatment.