- Diosgenin-loaded niosome as an effective phytochemical nanocarrier: physicochemical characterization, loading efficiency, and cytotoxicity assay.
Diosgenin-loaded niosome as an effective phytochemical nanocarrier: physicochemical characterization, loading efficiency, and cytotoxicity assay.
The use of phytochemicals to prevent or suppress tumours is known as chemoprevention. Numerous plant-derived agents have been reported to have anticancer potentials. As one such anticancer phytochemical, diosgenin has several applications which are nevertheless limited due to its low solubility in water. We loaded diosgenin into niosome to increase its solubility and hence efficiency. Diosgenin-niosome (diosgenin loaded into niosome) was prepared by thin-film hydration method and characterised by optical microscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and UV-visible spectrophotometry. Also, loading efficiency, in vitro drug release, and cytotoxicity assay were performed on HepG2 cell line. Diosgenin-niosome has a nanometric size with a normal size distribution and spherical morphology. The loading efficiency of diosgenin was about 89% with a sustainable and controllable release rate. Finally, the viability of free diosgenin was 61.25%, and after loading into niosomes, it was improved to 28.32%. The results demonstrated that niosomes increase the solubility of naturally derived hydrophobic chemicals and thus enhance their anticancer effect. Graphical abstract.