Leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease caused by Leishmania parasites. Meglumine Antimoniate (MA) or glucantime drug is the primary treatment for this disease. MA has high aqueous solubility, which results in burst release, rapid clearance from the body, short circulation time, and harmful side effects due to a high systemic drug absorption. To solve these problems, applying nanostructure drug carrier is very useful. In this study, a nano-structured lipid carrier (NLC) containing MA was prepared using the double emulsion method to improve the drug dispersion into the wound site, enhance anti-leishmania and anti-promastigote performance of the commercial ampule formulation. NLC is composed of GMS as solid lipid, oleic acid as liquid lipid, tween 80 and span 80 as hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfactants, respectively. Prepared NLC formulation has a mean particle size of 93±0.1 nm with a uniform size distribution, proper zeta potential about -30±0.25 mv, and the drug entrapment efficiency of 74%. TEM and AFM analysis confirmed the success formation of NLC nanoparticles with spherical morphology. Comparing the anti-promastigote effects of NLC formulation with the commercial ampule confirmed a significant improvement of the NLC formulation. In conclusion, the new NLC formulation of MA was proposed as a safe alternative for delivering glucantim drug in injection administration route compared with the commercial ampule.

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