This study describes a 32 full factorial experimental design to optimize the formulation of atorvastatin loaded lipid nanoparticles by the high speed homogenization followed by probe sonication method. The variables drug:lipid ratio and concentration of liquid lipid were studied at three levels and arranged in a 32 factorial design to study the influence on the response variables particle size and % entrapment efficiency. From the statistical analysis of data polynomial equations were generated. The particle size and % entrapment efficiency for the R1 to R9 batches showed a wide variation of 111.11-310.76 nm and 60.64-90.42%, respectively. The atorvastain-loaded lipid nanoparticles were evaluated for particle size, entrapment efficiency, differential scanning calorimetry, fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and in-vitro drug release study. The optimized batch was selected from the data obtained from grid search and numerical optimization which showed an average particle size of 133.08 nm and entrapment efficiency of 92.46%. The total drug release from lipid nanoparticles in phosphate buffer pH 7.4, in 10 hours is 20.96% which indicates that the release of atorvastatin from lipid nanoparticles is sustained for longer period of time, which is required for its therapeutic action.
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