Optimization of Rifapentine-Loaded Lipid Nanoparticles Using a Quality-by-Design Strategy

This work aims to optimize and assess the potential use of lipid nanoparticles, namely nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs), as drug delivery systems of rifapentine (RPT) for the treatment of tuberculosis (TB). A Box-Behnken design was used to increase drug encapsulation efficiency (EE) and loading capacity (LC) of RPT-loaded NLCs. The optimized nanoparticles were fully characterized, and their effect on cell viability was assessed. The quality-by-design approach allowed the optimization of RPT-loaded NLCs with improved EE and LC using the minimum of experiments. Analyses of variance were indicative of the validity of this model to optimize this nanodelivery system. The optimized NLCs had a mean diameter of 242 ± 9 nm, polydispersity index