Phd in PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES

Thesis title: NANOCARRIERS FOR DRUG DELIVERY

Nanocarriers are multifunctional systems engineered at the nanoscale and are comprised of distinctive physicochemical properties with massive prospects in the therapeutic and diagnostic applications, ranging from delivery cargos to biosensors. In this work,nanotechnology was applied to the development of different nanocarriers, based on nanoemulsions of essential oil (EO) and magnetoliposomes for stimuli responsive drug delivery. In particular, in the Chapter I, nanoemulsions based on EO and hydrolate from Lavandula x intermedia are discussed. The formulations were appropriately designed to enhance properties and effectiveness of EO and hydrolate in order to widen their application in pharmaceutical, cosmetics or food fields. In particular, nanoemulsions were investigated to evaluate the impact of the formulation process on the chemical composition. Moreover, the antibacterial acitvity against Gram positive(G+) and Gram negative(G−) bacteria and anti-proliferative activity on different human cell lines of the encapsulated EO and hydrolate were investigated. In the Chapter II, stimuli-sensitive nanocarriers are discussed. In particular, Magnetoliposomes (MLs), i.e., liposomes entrapping magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs), are studied dueto their capacity to transport hydrophobic and hydrophilic agents, their easy production,and due to the ability of MNPs to respond to a magnetic actuation determining the triggered release of the encapsulated compounds. In this Chapter II, the design and optimization of the MLs to obtainan efficient cargo on-demand release due to the magneto-mechanical actuation induced by applying low-intensity pulsed electromagnetic fields(PEMFs) were investigated. To conclude, in this thesis different nanocarriers with different appplications are reported, and the obtained results show the advantages and the benefits of nanocarriers use respect to the conventional formulations.