Animal Bioscience

Asian Australasian Association of Animal Production Societies (아세아태평양축산학회)
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Insights into nanostructured lipid carriers for the effective delivery of bioactives in swine and poultry health: review

  • Noor Saba (Language Education Institute of the Office of International Affairs, Jeju National University) ;
  • Mohammad Moniruzzaman (Department of Animal Biotechnology, Jeju International Animal Research Center (JIA) & Sustainable Agriculture Research Institute (SARI), Jeju National University) ;
  • Do Thi Cat Toung (Department of Animal Biotechnology, Jeju International Animal Research Center (JIA) & Sustainable Agriculture Research Institute (SARI), Jeju National University) ;
  • Sungyeon Chin (Department of Animal Biotechnology, Jeju International Animal Research Center (JIA) & Sustainable Agriculture Research Institute (SARI), Jeju National University) ;
  • Lin Lat La Min (Department of Animal Biotechnology, Jeju International Animal Research Center (JIA) & Sustainable Agriculture Research Institute (SARI), Jeju National University) ;
  • Adhimoolam Karthikeyan (Subtropical Horticulture Research Institute, Jeju National University) ;
  • Dong I. Lee (Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine) ;
  • Ji-Yeon Chun (Department of Food Bioengineering, Jeju National University) ;
  • Taesun Min (Department of Animal Biotechnology, Jeju International Animal Research Center (JIA) & Sustainable Agriculture Research Institute (SARI), Jeju National University)
  • Received : 2025.11.24
  • Accepted : 2025.12.30
  • Published : 2026.05.01
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Abstract

Nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) are promising in target and efficient delivery of bioactive compounds with high loading capacity of bioactives, better physical stability, better encapsulation efficiency, solubility and bioavailability in comparison to the traditional delivery systems for lipophilic and hydrophobic bioactives such as essential oils and phytochemicals as well as functional feed ingredients. There are different types of NLCs combining solid lipid and liquid lipid in a single nanoparticulate matrix that have advantages over other drug delivery systems. The NLCs can be synthesized in form of imperfect, amorphous, oil-enriched, surface modified or functionalized, hybrid or composite and multiple-compartment or double-shell NLCs. Moreover, the synthesized NLCs safety, efficacy, toxicity, encapsulation efficiency, drug loading and releasing capacity, reproducibility in large scale were evaluated. The application of NLCs for the effective and target delivery of bioactive compounds are widely reported in biomedical and therapeutic studies. However, utilization of NLCs for the effective delivery of bioactive compounds is very limited in swine and poultry health. There are some recent studies reported that NLCs with can enhance growth, antioxidant capacity, immunity, gut health and microbiome as well as disease resistance in swine and poultry. This review focuses on recent developments and future prospects of utilizing NLCs in swine and poultry health management. Regardless of the potential beneficial effects of NLCs in nanodelivery of bioactive compounds, further research on long-term field oriented studies in livestock and poultry farms and economic analysis of manufactured NLCs should be conducted.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This research was supported by the Regional Innovation System & Education (RISE) program through the Jeju RISE center, funded by the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, Republic of Korea (2025-RISE-17-001).

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