Liposomal nanohybrid cerasomes for controlled insulin release

Abstract

This study reported a facile fabrication of a reproducible and injectable cerasomal insulin formulation by encapsulating insulin into cerasomes via one-step construction. Notably, a wide range of the insulin release profiles was achieved by altering vesicle composition through incorporating the phospholipid of DPPC into cerasomes, and the mixed cerasomes showed excellent storage stability when the percentage content of DPPC was lower than 50%. It was found that the subcutaneous administration of the insulin-loaded cerasomes resulted in a reduction of blood glucose levels in a rat model of type I diabetes and the hypoglycemic effect was found to be composition dependent. The use of cerasomes significantly improved glucose tolerance from 6 hours (free insulin) to more than 16 hours (insulin-loaded cerasomes). Moreover, the insulin-loaded cerasomes displayed a prolonged and stable glucose-lowering profile over a period of over 12 hours compared with the insulin-loaded liposomes. These findings demonstrate that cerasomes have good potential for the use in an effective controlled release delivery system of insulin as well as other proteins with short half-life time.