Optimized garlic essential oil-based nanostructured lipid carriers as anti - Gammacoronavirus galli agent

Introduction Gammacoronavirus galli is a pathogenic avian coronavirus that causes huge economic losses in the poultry industry worldwide. The continuous emergence of viral variants challenges existing control strategies and highlights the need for novel and complementary antiviral approaches. This work reported the development of nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC) loaded with garlic essential oil (EO) as a potential antiviral strategy. Methods The chemical composition of the garlic EO was elucidated, revealing a predominance of organosulfur compounds. Different NLC systems composed of ucuuba butter, copaiba oil, garlic EO and stabilized by a surfactant were optimized using a 2 4 factorial design. The optimized formulations were monitored in the physicochemical stability study, in terms of particle size, polydispersity index and Zeta potential, for 6 months (25 °C), as well as the thermal cycling stability. The most promising system and its excipients were structurally characterized through experimental methodologies (FTIR-ATR, DSC and FESEM). Cytotoxicity was assessed in VERO cells, nanotoxicity in a chicken embryo (CE) model and antiviral efficacy in cell lineages infected with Gammacoronavirus galli . Results and Discussion Such systems proved to be stable up to 180 days at room temperature, with excellent structural properties and biocompatibility. The results indicated that the NLC formulation preserved the biological activity of garlic EO and demonstrated antiviral activity against G. galli . The nanotechnological strategy proposed here described the development of biocompatible and efficient formulations against G. galli , providing promising candidates to be subjected to further preclinical assays against enveloped viruses.