In vivo study of mPEG-PCL as a nanocarriers for anti-inflammatory drug delivery of simvastatin

Purpose: In this study, methoxy poly (ethylene glycol)-poly (epsilon-caprolactone) (mPEG-PCL) di-block copolymers were synthesized. The purpose of this work is to investigate the in vivo anti-inflammatory effects of simvastatin-loaded micelles.Methods: The structure of synthesized copolymers was characterized by using HNMR, FTIR, and GPC techniques. Simvastatin was encapsulated in micelles through a single-step nano-precipitation method, leading to the formation of simvastatin-loaded mPEG-PCL (simvastatin-mPEG-PCL) micelles. In this study, the anti-inflammatory effects of simvastatin/mPEG-PCL micelles versus indomethacin were investigated in acute inflammation-induced rats. The paw edema thickness was measured 1, 2, 3, and 4h after injection of formulation. The inhibition of edema in various groups were calculated and reported by percentages.Results: The results showed that the zeta potential of micelles was about -14.90.47mV and the average size was in range of 66.10 +/- 0.34nm. Simvastatin was encapsulated in mPEG-PCL micelles with a loading capacity of 9.63 +/- 0.87% and an encapsulation efficiency of 64.20 +/- 0.79%. Simvastatin and simvastatin-mPEG-PCL micelles showed significant anti-inflammatory activity in the present study.Conclusions: This study revealed that simvastatin and simvastatin/mPEG-PCL micelles both have anti-inflammatory effects and suggested that statins have potential anti-inflammatory activity along with their lipid lowering properties.