New methods for lipid nanoparticles preparation.

Lipid nanoparticles have attracted many researchers during recent years due to the excellent tolerability and advantages compared to liposomes and polymeric nanoparticles. High pressure homogenization is the main technique used to prepare solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) encapsulating different type of drugs, however this method involves some critical process parameters. For this reason and in order to overcome patented methods, different production techniques for lipid nanoparticles have been widely investigated in recent years (last decade). The paper reviews new methods for lipid nanoparticles preparation, and their recent applications in pharmaceutical field, especially focusing on coacervation, microemulsions templates, supercritical fluid technology, phase-inversion temperature (PIT) techniques. References of the most relevant literature and patents published by various research groups on these fields are provided.