1. Lipid-core nanocapsules containing simvastatin improve the cognitive impairment induced by obesity and hypercholesterolemia in adult rats
- Author
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Leticia Malgarim Cordenonsi, Samuel Davies, Oswaldo Luiz Alves, Renata Platcheck Raffin, Amanda Lima de Oliveira, José Alcides da Silva Viçosa, Virginia Cielo Rech, Rodrigo de Almeida Vaucher, Guilherme Machado do Carmo, Nathana J. Mezzomo, and Ricardo Lorenzoni
- Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty ,Simvastatin ,Hypercholesterolemia ,Pharmaceutical Science ,02 engineering and technology ,030226 pharmacology & pharmacy ,Nanocapsules ,Energy homeostasis ,03 medical and health sciences ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,0302 clinical medicine ,Internal medicine ,Medicine ,Animals ,Cognitive Dysfunction ,Obesity ,Cognitive deficit ,business.industry ,Cholesterol ,021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology ,medicine.disease ,Lipids ,Rats ,Endocrinology ,chemistry ,Lovastatin ,Alzheimer's disease ,medicine.symptom ,0210 nano-technology ,business ,Pyruvate kinase ,medicine.drug - Abstract
The development of cognitive impairment may be related to high levels of plasma cholesterol and obesity. Simvastatin (SV) and lovastatin (LV) are drugs that can potentially be used for the treatment of cognitive deficit. This study aimed to develop and characterize lipid-core nanocapsules (LNC) containing SV (SV-LNC) or LV (LV-LNC), evaluating the effects of SV-LNC in an animal model of cognitive deficit. The formulations SV-LNC and LV-LNC presented a particle average size around 200 nm, a low-polydispersity index, and negative zeta potential. Analysis of differential scanning calorimetry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy showed that there is no reaction among LNC components: LV was crystallized in the suspensions, and SV was molecularly dispersed. The encapsulation efficiency of the SV was high (98.9 ± 1.4%), while that of the LV was low (21.5 ± 1.5%).Based on these results, SV-LNC was used in the preclinical studies. Animals fed with a hyperlipidic diet (HD) developed obesity, hypercholesterolemia, and cognitive impairment, which was corroborated by the brain lesions indicated by histological analysis of some of the animals that received the high-fat diet. We observed that free simvastatin (CS3) was able to reduce the enzymatic activity of pyruvate kinase, an important enzyme for brain energy homeostasis, without affecting the memory of the animals that received a standard diet. However, it failed to improve the cognitive damage caused by a diet high in cholesterol and saturated fats. On the other hand, when simvastatin is "camouflaged" in the lipid-core nanocapsules (HNS3), this cognitive impairment improves. Thus, SV-LNC is a promising alternative therapy for the treatment of cognitive impairment.
- Published
- 2020