Saturation of Bacterial Cellulose with Silymarin Flavolignans in the Composition of Lipid Nanoparticles

Silymarin (SM) from Silybum marianum (L.) is a sum of flavolignans (silibinin, silychristin, silydianin, and isosilibinin), exhibiting a wide spectrum of biological activity and having anti-inflammatory, antitumor, hepatoprotective, immunomodulatory effects. Using a modified emulsion method with solvent evaporation, lipid nanoparticles with silymarin (LNP-SM) were obtained, the size of which was 257 ± 6 nm, and the ζ potential was –20.8 ± 1.6 mV. The efficiency of SM inclusion in the LNP-SM was 89.8%, the loading degree was 5.4%. The release of CM from the composition of the resulting nanoparticles was prolonged; after 48 h, only 68.3 ± 5.4% of the active substance was released into the dialysis medium. The dynamics of the inclusion/release of SM in the composition of LNP into the films of bacterial cellulose (BC) produced by the Gluconacetobacter hansenii GH-1/2008 strain has been studied. It was shown, that after 24 h of incubation the maximum of BC film saturation with SM reached 0.745 ± 0.038 mg/cm 2 , and the maximum release was 0.520 ± 0.041 mg/cm 2 . It was demonstrated that both LNP-SM sols and samples of BC saturated with LNP-SM exhibited low hemolytic activity, which indicates the potential biosafety of these preparations. The preparation LNP-SM, in contrast to free SM, exhibited fungistatic action against the fungi of A. niger and C. albicans . Both free SM and LNP-SM suppressed the growth of gram-positive bacteria; however, the effect of LNP-SM was much more effective. The minimum inhibitory concentration of the LNP-SM preparation for B. subtilis and B. coagulans was 105 and 210 μg/mL, respectively. The possibility of developing biocompatible coating materials based on BC saturated with LNP-SM is discussed.