Varela Fernández, RubénGarcía Otero, XurxoDíaz Tomé, VictoriaRegueiro, Uxía López López, MaiteGonzález Barcia, MiguelLema Gesto, María IsabelOtero Espinar, Francisco Javier2022-08-052022-08-052022European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics 172 (2022) 144-156http://hdl.handle.net/10347/29014Nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC) are novel lipidic nanosystems that provide significant improvements in terms of high drug loading capacity and controlled drug release. The purpose of the present work was based on the design, development, and physicochemical characterization of lactoferrin-loaded NLCs as a new therapeutic alternative for the keratoconus treatment. Lactoferrin-loaded NLCs were successfully prepared by a double emulsion/solvent evaporation method. The resultant NLC were assessed in terms of particle size, size distribution, surface charge, morphology, encapsulation efficiency (EE), loading capacity (LC), stability, cytotoxicity, in vitro release, and ocular surface retention. Resulting data showed a size of 119.45 ± 11.44 nm, a 0.151 ± 0.045 PDI value and a surface charge of −17.50 ± 2.53 mV. Besides, high EE and LC values were obtained (up to 75%). The in vitro release study demonstrated a lactoferrin controlled release pattern. NLCs were also stable, non-toxic and show mucoadhesive properties. Thus, a consistent preclinical base was obtained, where NLC may be considered as a potential controlled release novel drug delivery system of lactoferrin for the keratoconus treatmenteng2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)Atribución 4.0 Internacionalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC)Double emulsification-solvent evaporation methodLactoferrinOcular drug deliveryTopical ophthalmic administrationKeratoconusjournal article10.1016/j.ejpb.2022.02.0100939-6411open access