DEVELOPMENT AND IN VITRO BIOCOMPATIBILITY ASSESSMENT OF COPAIBA OIL NANOCAPSULES ON LUNG CELLS
Natural oil; polymeric nanocapsules; cytotoxicity; genotoxicity.
Nanocapsules stand out as one of the main nanosystems inteded to natural oils delivery due to their ability to improve bioaccessibility and bioavailability of lipophilic compounds on different human tissues. Nonetheless, their physicochemical characterization and biocompatibility should be firstly assessed to elucidate their safety profile. Therefore, copaiba oil nanocapsules (CopNc) were developed using nanoprecipitation method. Then, their physicochemical stability and in vitro biocompatibility on lung cells were evaluated through size distribution and zeta potential analyzes, as well as hemolysis, MTT and CBMN assays. CopNc showed particle size of 215 ± 10 nm, polydispersivity index of 0.15 ± 0.01 and zeta potential of -18 ± 1. These parameters remained stable over 30 days at 25 ± 2 °C. In addition, CopNc did not induce hemolysis, cytotoxic and genotoxic effects in lung cells at a range of concentrations from 50 to 200 μg.mL-1. Based on these data, it is possible to point out a successfully development of CoPNc, in addition to its suitable biocompatibility, which may pave the way to its further use on the pulmonary delivery of copaiba oil.