ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Quality by design tailored development of xanthohumol-loaded nanoemulsion: characterization and evaluation of in vitro antioxidant potential

Gollapalli Lakshmi Sri Sai Kumar, Vancha Harish, Sharfuddin Mohd, Sachin Kumar Singh, and Sukriti Vishwas

School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, India

E-mail: vanchaharish@gmail.com

Received: 31 August 2024  Accepted: 17 July 2025

Abstract:

The present research paper reports the quality by design tailored optimization, formulation and in vitro characterization of XH-NE. XH-NE was developed in order to overcome the limitation of XH such as poor solubility and less bioavailability. Many researchers have reported that NE has successfully enhanced the said limitations of various drugs. Therefore, we have selected NE formulation as strategy to enhance the biopharmaceutical performance and antioxidant potential of XH. BBD was used to optimize XH-NE and prepared by homogenization–ultrasonication method using labrafac, pluronic F-68 and transcutol-P as oil, surfactant and cosurfactant, respectively. DPPH assay was used to assess antioxidant activity and Caco2 cell line study for assessing permeability of raw XH and in XH-NE formulation. The GS, PDI, ZP and % EE of optimized XH-NE were found to be 93.53 ± 3.57, 0.135 ± 1.09, −23.2 ± 4.28 mV and 98.53 ± 2.49, respectively. The release kinetics revealed that diffusion was the release mechanism of XH from NE. Morphological evaluation by FE-SEM revealed that the globules are spherical in shape without any aggregation. The release study was performed by using dialysis membrane method, and the results confirmed that release of XH from XH-NE was greater than raw XH suspension. The antioxidant effect of XH was evaluated by DPPH assay using ascorbic acid as standard. The results indicated that XH-NE showed maximum antioxidant effect compared to raw XH. The greater permeability of XH through XH-NE formulation was confirmed by Caco2 cell line study. This enhanced permeation is the prerequisite for enhanced bioavailability of XH. Optimized XH-NE was developed, characterized and assessed its antioxidant activity successfully. These findings propel future research for enhanced delivery of XH with improved biopharmaceutical performance.

Keywords: Nanoemulsion; Xanthohumol; BBD; Antioxidant effect; Bioavailability

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-025-04260-9

Chemical Papers 79 (11) 7403–7424 (2025)