Cystic echinococcosis therapy: Albendazole-loaded lipid nanocapsules enhance the oral bioavailability and efficacy in experimentally infected mice

PENSEL P ;; GABRIELA ULLIO GAMBOA,; FABBRI JULIA; CEBALLOS LAURA; SANCHEZ BRUNI, S;; LUIS ALVAREZ,; ALLEMANDI D,; BENOIT J.P,; PALMA S. D; ELISSONDO CELINA

ACTA TROPICA

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2015 vol. 182 p. 185 - 194

0001-706X

Therapeutic failures attributed to medical management of cystic echinococcosis (CE) with albendazole (ABZ) have beenn primarily linked to the poor drug absorption rate resulting in low drug level in plasma and hydatid cysts. Lipid nanocapsules (LNCs) represent nanocarriers designed to encapsulate lipophilic drugs, such as ABZ.The goals of the current work were: (i) to characterize the plasma and cyst drug exposure after the administration of ABZ as ABZ-LNCs or ABZ suspension (ABZ-SUSP) in mice infected with Echinococcus granulosus, and ii) to compare the clinical efficacies of both ABZ formulations. Enhanced ABZ sulphoxide (ABZ-SO) concentration profiles were obtained in plasma and cysts from ABZ-LNC treated animals.ABZSO exposure (AUC) was significantly higher in plasma and cyst after the ABZ-LNC treatments, both orally and subcutaneously, compared to that observed after oral administration of ABZ-SUSP. Additionally ABZSO 0?LOQ concentration measured in cysts from ABZ-LNC treated mice were 1.7-fold higher that those detected in plasma. This enhanced drug availability correlated with an increased efficacy against secondary CEin mice observed for the ABZ-LNCs, while ABZ-SUSP did not reach differences with theuntreated control group. This new pharmacotechnically-based strategy could be a potential alternative to improve the treatment of human CE.