ABSTRACT
Prednisolone, a popular glucocorticoid (GC) known for its ability to inhibit cytokine release, is also employedextensively in cancer therapy. GCs have been used to treat brain tumors to reduce tumor-associated edema. They areknown to exhibit different effects on different cell lines and in some cases are known to be neurotoxic. In this study,we have investigated and compared the cytotoxic and anti-inflammatory effects of prednisolone and prednisoloneencapsulated Poly Lactic-co-Glycolic acid (PLGA) nanoparticles (NPs) on C6 cells that are cancerous but are knownfor their similarity to astrocyte cells. Design expert software was used to analyze the effect of different variablesfor NP formulation. By varying different parameters, NPs were synthesized and characterized using particle sizeanalyzer and zeta potential. The surface morphology of the NPs was analyzed using scanning electron microscopy.Lipopolysaccharide activated C6 glial cells witnessed significantly lower cell proliferation in the presence of the drugduring the 48 hours of incubation and the prednisolone encapsulated NPs were able to attenuate pro-inflammatorycytokines like Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and nitric oxide substantially even after the 72 hours of incubationwhen compared with the free drug. The results suggested that prednisolone was more effective as an anti-inflammatorydrug in the PLGA nanoformulation