• Lipid-based Nanocarriers as New Approach to Malaria Chemotherapy
  • Mahsa Alem,1 Fatemeh Omidinejhad,2 Ali Ghahramani,3 Amirreza Jafari Tarq,4 Zeinab Sadat Jalali,5,*
    1. Urmia University, Department of Pathobiology
    2. Shiraz university of medical science ,Shiraz , Iran
    4. North khorasan University of Medical Sciences, bojnurd, Iran
    5. Student research committee, Jahrom university of Medical Sciences, Jahrom, Iran


  • Introduction: Malaria as an intraerythrocytic parasite is till now the most severe tropical disease and one of the burdens of humankind throughout the world that cause much debilitation and morbidity. There is a challenge in the treatment, however, the good biological activity success in vitro and in vivo studies, most drugs fail in the clinical stage. However, many antimalarial compounds have low efficacy levels, drug resistance, poor water solubility, and suffer from the lack of suitable delivery systems, which seriously limits their activity. For the fighting parasitic malaria diseases the enhancement of drug absorption by facilitating diffusion through the epithelium, safeguarding of drug from degradation, adjustment of the pharmacokinetics of drug and tissue distribution profiles, and improvement of penetration and distribution into the cell has shown via nano-biotechnology strategies as the ultimate solution. The purpose of this review article was to summarize, highlight, and emphasize lipid-based Nanocarriers as a new approach to Malaria chemotherapy.
  • Methods: In this research study, the required data were collected using keywords: Malaria, Chemotherapy, Nanocarriers, Lipid-based, and citing valid databases such as PubMed, and Google Scholar. The study's statistical population includes studies conducted up to 2022 in Lipid-based Nanocarriers as a new approach to Malaria chemotherapy.
  • Results: Nanotechnology is able to reduce the toxicity of drug molecules. For example, encapsulated beta-artemether and lumefantrine co-loaded into small lipid nano-drops (liposomes) have higher efficacy, reduced dose, and can easily access the target site. On the other hand, a reduction in drug cardiotoxicity in the case of polyethylene glycol-coated halofantrine loaded poly-D, L-lactic acid nano-capsules was illustrated. In the experiment, a higher increased life span index for primaquine-loaded nanoparticles on poly (diethylmethylidene malonate) was demonstrated against P. berghei. Another study illustrated that Transferrin-conjugated solid lipid NPs had significantly enhanced brain uptake of quinine compared with the unconjugated forms or drug solutions for cerebral malaria treatment. The nanoemulsion including encapsulated azacarbazole and polyunsaturated fatty acids ethyl esters as delivery vehicles enhanced stability, and influence against Plasmodium falciparum, without cytotoxicity in comparison with non-encapsulated. Nanostructured lipid carriers can potentiate the antimalarial effect of artemisinin and its derivatives in the heme synthesis pathway of Plasmodium. The advantages were relatively stable in simulated gastrointestinal fluids and plasma, specifically and efficiently internalized into intraerythrocytic parasites, antimalarial effect, and inhibitory activity increasing against Plasmodium.
  • Conclusion: The rapid advancement of nanotechnology has raised the possibility of using lipid nanocarriers that interact within biological environments to treat infectious diseases. Thus, lipid-based nano-delivery systems (e.g., liposomes, solid lipid nanoparticles, and nano and microemulsions) and polymer-based nanocarriers (nanocapsules and nanospheres) offer a platform to formulate old and toxic antimalarial drugs thereby modifying their pharmacokinetic profile, biodistribution, high biocompatibility, and biodegradability, more efficient for the treatment and targetability. Further, there is a need to develop new chemotherapy-based approaches for inhibiting parasite-specific metabolic pathways.
  • Keywords: Malaria, Chemotherapy, Nanocarriers, Lipid-based