Cilnidipine loaded transfersomes for transdermal application: Formulation optimization, in-vitro and in-vivo study

Statistical design and optimization of nano-transfersomes based chitosan gel for transdermal delivery of cefepime

OBJECTIVES

This research aimed to overcome challenges posed by cefepime excessive elimination rate and poor patient compliance by developing transdermal delivery system using nano-transfersomes based chitosan gel.

METHODS

Rotary evaporation-sonication method and the Box-Behnken model were used to prepare cefepime loaded nano-transfersomes (CPE-NTFs). The physiochemical characterization of CPE-NTFs were analyzed including DLS, deformability index, DSC and antimicrobial study. Optimized CPE-NTFs loaded into chitosan gel and appropriately characterized. In vitro release, ex vivo and in vivo studies were performed.

RESULTS

The CPE-NTFs were physically stable with particle size 222.6 ± 1.8 nm, polydispersity index 0.163 ± 0.02, zeta potential -20.8 ± 0.1 mv, entrapment efficiency 81.4 ± 1.1% and deformability index 71 ± 0.2. DSC analysis confirmed successful drug loading and thermal stability. FTIR analysis showed no chemical interaction among the excipients of CPE-NTFs gel. The antibacterial activity demonstrated a remarkable reduction in the minimum inhibitory concentration of cefepime when incorporated into nano-transfersomes. CPE-NTFs based chitosan gel (CPE-NTFs gel) showed significant physicochemical properties. In vitro release studies exhibited sustained release behavior over 24 h, and ex vivo studies indicated enhanced permeation and retention compared to conventional cefepime gel. In vivo skin irritation studies confirmed CPE-NTFs gel was nonirritating and biocompatible for transdermal delivery.

CONCLUSION

This research showed nano-transfersomes based chitosan gel is a promising approach for cefepime transdermal delivery and provides sustained release of cefepime.

A Novel Chitosan-coated Leciplex Loaded with Ambrisentan as a Possible Pulmonary Nanosystem: Optimization, Characterization, and Pharmacokinetics Assessments

The purpose of this research was to formulate, optimize, and characterize ambrisentan chitosan-coated LeciPlex (AMS-CTS-LPX) to increase the therapeutic effectiveness and bioavailability of ambrisentan. A central composite design (CCD) was implemented to assess the impact of various factors on the production of AMS-CTS-LPX and to identify the optimum formulation via the use of Design Expert® software. The assembly of AMS-CTS-LPX was conducted using a single-step process. Subsequently, the optimal formulation was chosen and subjected to further assessments. Further, a comparative pharmacokinetic study was carried out using a rat model. The optimized formulation exhibited an entrapment efficiency of 82.39%, with a diameter of 137.53 nm and a surface charge of +43.65 mV. Additionally, it had a sustained cumulative release of 90.41% after 8 h and showed good stability. The safety of AMS-CTS-LPX administered intratracheally was confirmed by in vivo histopathological studies. The pharmacokinetic investigations revealed a 5.6-fold increase in the bioavailability of AMS from the optimal AMS-CTS-LPX formulation compared to the oral AMS solution. Collectively, the results of the current study suggest that CTS-LPX may be beneficial as a pulmonary nanosystem for the administration of AMS.

Development of erlotinib-loaded nanotransferosomal gel for the topical treatment of ductal carcinoma in situ

Aims: This study was aimed to formulate erlotinib (ERL)-loaded transferosomal gel (ERL@TG) intended for topical application for the treatment of ductal carcinoma in situ. Materials & methods: The optimized process involved a thin-film hydration method to generate ERL-loaded transferosomes (ERL@TFS), which was incorporated into a carbopol gel matrix to generate ERL@TG. The optimized formulation was characterized in vitro followed by cytotoxicity evaluation on MCF-7 breast cancer cell lines and acute toxicity and skin irritation studies was performed in vivo. Results: In a comparative assessment against plain ERL, ERL@TG displayed enhanced efficacy against MCF-7 cell lines, reflected in considerably lower IC50 values with an enhanced safety profile. Conclusion: Optimized ERL@TG was identified as a promising avenue for addressing ductal carcinoma in situ breast cancer.

Nanosized ethosomal dispersions for enhanced transdermal delivery of nebivolol using intradermal/transfollicular sustained reservoir: in vitro evaluation, confocal laser scanning microscopy, and in vivo pharmacokinetic studies

Nebivolol (NBV), a BCS class II anti-hypertensive drug, suffers from limited solubility and oral bioavailability. Nanosized ethosomes were adopted as an approach to solubilize and deliver NBV transdermally, as a substitute to oral route. Ethosomal dispersions were prepared employing thin film hydration method. Formulation variables were adjusted to obtain entrapment efficiency; EE > 50%, particle size; PS < 100 nm, zeta potential; ZP > ±25 mV, and polydispersity index; PDI < 0.5. The optimized ethosomal dispersion (OED) showed accepted EE 86.46 ± 0.15%, PS 73.50 ± 0.08 nm, ZP 33.75 ± 1.20 mV, and PDI 0.31 ± 0.07. It also showed enhanced cumulative amount of NBV permeated at 8 h (Q8) 71.26 ± 1.46% and 24 h (Q24) 98.18 ± 1.02%. TEM images denoted spherical vesicles with light colored lipid bi-layer and dark core. Confocal laser scanning microscopy showed deeply localized intradermal and transfollicular permeation of the fluorolabelled OED (FL-OED). Nanosized FL-OED (<100 nm) can permeate through hair follicles creating a drug reservoir for enhanced systemic absorption. OED formulated into transdermal patch (OED-TP1) exhibited accepted physicochemical properties including; thickness 0.14 ± 0.01 mm, folding endurance 151 ± 0.07, surface pH 5.80 ± 0.15, drug content 98.64 ± 2.01%, mucoadhesion 8534 ± 0.03, Q8 87.61 ± 0.11%, and Q24 99.22 ± 0.24%. In vivo pharmacokinetic studies showed significantly enhanced bioavailability of OED-TP1 by 7.9 folds compared to oral Nevilob® tablets (p = 0.0002). It could be concluded that OED-TP1 can be a promising lipid nanocarrier TDDS for NBV and an efficacious alternative route of administration for hypertensive patients suffering from dysphagia.

Dissolving microneedle transdermal patch loaded with Risedronate sodium and Ursolic acid bipartite nanotransfersomes to combat osteoporosis: Optimization, characterization, in vitro and ex vivo assessment

Osteoporosis is a fatal bone-wearing malady and a substantial reason behind the impermanence of human life and economic burden. Risedronate Sodium along with Ursolic acid has been studied to ameliorate osteoporosis. To bypass problems associated with bioavailability, we have developed a microneedle transdermal patch loaded with optimized formulation nanotransfersomes. It was optimized using three factor, three-level Central composite design with independent variables namely, the concentration of phospholipid, surfactant, and sonication time on dependent variables (vesicle size, entrapment efficiency and Polydispersity index). Vesicles of size 271.9 ± 8.45 nm with PDI 0.184 ± 0.01, having entrapment efficiency of 86.12 ± 5.20% and 85.65 ± 4.88% for RIS and UA respectively were observed. In vitro release study showed the sustained release pattern with 78.16 ± 1.12% and 75.72 ± 1.01% release of RIS and UA respectively. Dissolving MN patch prepared from gelatin was found to have good strength and folding endurance with uniform drug content (98.68 ± 0.004%). Ex vivo permeation study revealed that up to 80% of the drug can be permeated within 24 h. CLSM analysis was also performed to show penetration of RU-NTRs. From the results obtained, we can conclude that dissolving MN patch loaded with RU-NTRs has great potential than its conventional counterpart.

Quality-by-design-based development of ultradeformable nanovesicular transgelosome of standardized Piper longum extract for melanoma

Background: Melanoma is the most aggressive and deadly form of skin cancer. The stratum corneum of the skin is a major obstacle to dermal and transdermal drug delivery. Ultradeformable nanovesicular transferosome has the capacity for deeper skin penetration and its incorporation into hydrogel forms a transgelosome that has better skin permeability and patient compliance. Method: Here, the quality-by-design-based development and optimization of nanovesicular transgelosome of standardized Piper longum fruit ethanolic extract (PLFEE) for melanoma therapy are reported. Results: Compared with standardized PLFEE-loaded plain gel, the transgelosome displayed optimal pharmaceutical properties and improved ex vivo skin permeability and in vivo tumor regression in B16F10 melanoma-bearing C57BL/6 mice. Conclusion: The results reflect the potential of transgelosome for melanoma therapy.

Improved Topical Drug Delivery: Role of Permeation Enhancers and Advanced Approaches

The delivery of drugs via transdermal routes is an attractive approach due to ease of administration, bypassing of the first-pass metabolism, and the large skin surface area. However, a major drawback is an inability to surmount the skin's stratum corneum (SC) layer. Therefore, techniques reversibly modifying the stratum corneum have been a classical approach. Surmounting the significant barrier properties of the skin in a well-organised, momentary, and harmless approach is still challenging. Chemical permeation enhancers (CPEs) with higher activity are associated with certain side effects restricting their advancement in transdermal drug delivery. Furthermore, complexity in the interaction of CPEs with the skin has led to difficulty in elucidating the mechanism of action. Nevertheless, CPEs-aided transdermal drug delivery will accomplish its full potential due to advancements in analytical techniques, synthetic chemistry, and combinatorial studies. This review focused on techniques such as drug-vehicle interaction, vesicles and their analogues, and novel CPEs such as lipid synthesis inhibitors (LSIs), cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs), and ionic liquids (ILs). In addition, different types of microneedles, including 3D-printed microneedles, have been focused on in this review.

Antileishmanial Agents Co-loaded in Transfersomes with Enhanced Macrophage Uptake and Reduced Toxicity

The prime objective of this study was to develop amphotericin B (AMB) and rifampicin (RIF) co-loaded transfersomal gel (AMB-RIF co-loaded TFG) for effective treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL). AMB-RIF co-loaded TF was prepared by the thin-film hydration method and was optimized based on particle size, polydispersity index (PDI), zeta potential, entrapment efficiency (%EE), and deformability index. Similarly, AMB-RIF co-loaded TFG was characterized in terms of rheology, spread ability, and pH. In vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo assays were performed to evaluate AMB-RIF co-loaded TF as a potential treatment option for CL. The optimized formulation had vesicles in nanosize range (167 nm) with suitable PDI (0.106), zeta potential (- 19.05 mV), and excellent %EE of RIF (66%) and AMB (85%). Moreover, it had appropriate deformability index (0.952). Additionally, AMB-RIF co-loaded TFG demonstrated suitable rheological behavior for topical application. AMB-RIF co-loaded TF and AMB-RIF co-loaded TFG showed sustained release of the incorporated drugs as compared to AMB-RIF suspension. Furthermore, RIF permeation from AMB-RIF co-loaded TF and AMB-RIF co-loaded TFG was enhanced fivefold and threefold, whereas AMB permeation was enhanced by eightfold and 6.6-fold, respectively. The significantly different IC₅₀, higher CC₅₀, and FIC₅₀ (p < 0.5) showed synergistic antileishmanial potential of AMB-RIF co-loaded TF. Likewise, reduced lesion size and parasitic burden in AMB-RIF co-loaded TF-treated mouse group further established the antileishmanial effect of the optimized formulation. Besides, AMB-RIF co-loaded TFG showed a better safety profile. This study concluded that TFG may be a suitable carrier for co-delivery of AMB-RIF when administered topically for the treatment of CL.

Topical nanostructured lipid carriers of alpha-mangostin and resveratrol for synergistic antioxidant activity

BACKGROUND

Nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) are interesting lipid-based carrier systems for enhancing the penetration of drugs through the skin after topical administration.

OBJECTIVE

Dual drug-loaded NLCs of alpha-mangostin (M) and resveratrol (R) to enhance antioxidant activity were developed for topical delivery.

METHODS

The efficacy of a combination of M and R was evaluated in terms of the antioxidant activity. M and R were loaded into the NLCs using a high shear homogenization and ultrasonication process. The particle size, zeta potential, and physical properties of the NLCs were observed. The M and R loading efficiency as well as release patterns were examined using Franz diffusion cells. Moreover, the antioxidant efficacy and in vitro cytotoxicity in the normal human fibroblast (NHF) of the NLCs were evaluated as well.

RESULTS

The results found that the combination of M and R offered synergistic antioxidant activity and was successfully loaded into the NLCs with the size of a nanometer and negative zeta potential. The drugs were loaded in the NLCs as molecular dispersions and slowly released from the NLCs. Interestingly, both drugs maintained their antioxidant activity after being loaded into the NLCs and provided a higher antioxidant activity than those in the single loading of M and R, thus demonstrating that the incorporation of M and R into the NLCs allowed an enhanced antioxidant activity. Moreover, a cytotoxicity study showed that the NLCs were safe and had low cytotoxicity on the NHF cells.

CONCLUSION

The M and R loaded NLCs were attractive systems for synergistic antioxidant activity for topical application.

Spanlastics a Novel Nanovesicular Carrier: Its Potential Application and Emerging Trends in Therapeutic Delivery

Nanotechnology-based drug delivery system has played a very crucial role in overpowering the tasks allied with the conventional dosage form. Spanlastics, an elastic nanovesicle with an ability to carry wide range of drug molecules, make it a potential drug delivery carrier. Spanlastics have extended rising curiosity for diverse sort of route of administration. They can squeeze themselves through the skin pore due to elastic and deformable nature which makes them favorable for transdermal delivery. Spanlastics consist of non-ionic surfactant or blend of surfactants. Many researchers proved that spanlastics have been significantly augment therapeutic efficacy, enhanced drug bioavailability, and reduced drug toxicity. This review summarizes various vesicular systems, composition and structure of spanlastics, advantages of spanlastics over other drug delivery systems, and mechanism of drug penetration through skin. It also gives a brief on different types of drug encapsulated in spanlastics vesicles for the treatment of various diseases.

Lipid-Based Nanovesicular Drug Delivery Systems

In designing a new drug, considering the preferred route of administration, various requirements must be fulfilled. Active molecules pharmacokinetics should be reliable with a valuable drug profile as well as well-tolerated. Over the past 20 years, nanotechnologies have provided alternative and complementary solutions to those of an exclusively pharmaceutical chemical nature since scientists and clinicians invested in the optimization of materials and methods capable of regulating effective drug delivery at the nanometer scale. Among the many drug delivery carriers, lipid nano vesicular ones successfully support clinical candidates approaching such problems as insolubility, biodegradation, and difficulty in overcoming the skin and biological barriers such as the blood-brain one. In this review, the authors discussed the structure, the biochemical composition, and the drug delivery applications of lipid nanovesicular carriers, namely, niosomes, proniosomes, ethosomes, transferosomes, pharmacosomes, ufasomes, phytosomes, catanionic vesicles, and extracellular vesicles.

Transfersomes: a Revolutionary Nanosystem for Efficient Transdermal Drug Delivery

Transdermal delivery system has gained significance in drug delivery owing to its advantages over the conventional delivery systems. However, the barriers of stratum corneum along with skin irritation are its major limitations. Various physical and chemical techniques have been employed to alleviate these impediments. Among all these, transfersomes have shown potential for overcoming the associated limitations and successfully delivering therapeutic agents into systemic circulation. These amphipathic vesicles are composed of phospholipids and edge activators. Along with providing elasticity, edge activator also affects the vesicular size and entrapment efficiency of transfersomes. The mechanism behind the enhanced permeation of transfersomes through the skin involves their deformability and osmotic gradient across the application site. Permeation enhancers can further enhance their permeability. Biocompatibility; capacity for carrying hydrophilic, lipophilic as well as high molecular weight therapeutics; deformability; lesser toxicity; enhanced permeability; and scalability along with potential for surface modification, active targeting, and controlled release render them ideal designs for efficient drug delivery. The current review provides a brief account of the discovery, advantages, composition, synthesis, comparison with other cutaneous nano-drug delivery systems, applications, and recent developments in this area.

Formulation development and in vitro-in vivo assessment of protransfersomal gel of anti-resorptive drug in osteoporosis treatment

Osteoporosis is a major cause of morbidity, mortality, and economic burden worldwide. Despite being an effective in combating the bone-deteriorating disorders, bisphosphonates have several shortcomings including poor and variable bioavailability, low permeability, high toxicity, etc. In this study, we developed and optimized protransfersome formulation for the drug risedronate sodium (RIS-Na) with the goal of enhancing its bioavailability and hence patient compliance. Phase separation coacervation technique was utilized for development of optimized formulation. Optimization was achieved by using three-factor, three-level Box-Behnken design combined with Response Surface Methodology (RSM). This enabled us to decipher the effect of 3 independent variables (Phospholipid, Tween-80 and Sodium Deoxycholate) on three dependent parameters (entrapment efficiency, vesicle size and transdermal flux). Optimized formulation was further evaluated for pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic parameters. Smooth, spherical protransfersomes with a size of 260 ± 18 nm, having entrapment efficiency and flux of 80.4 ± 4.90% and 8.41 ± 0.148 μg/cm²/h, respectively were prepared. Ex vivo studies revealed a shorter lag time of 1.21 ± 0.18 h and higher flux associated with transdermal formulation. CLSM analysis further revealed better drug penetration (220 μm) through the skin in case of protransfersomes as compared to drug solution (72 μm). Additionally, biomechanical, biochemical, and histo-pathological studies further validated the results. Thus, it was concluded that protransfersome formulation has a great potential in providing better therapeutic efficacy of risedronate than its conventional counterpart.

In vitro and in vivo evaluation of an ionic sensitive in situ gel containing nanotransfersomes for aripiprazole nasal delivery

In the current study, a composite in-situ gel formulation containing aripiprazole (APZ) loaded transfersomes (TFS) was developed for the intranasal brain targeting of APZ. APZ loaded TFS were prepared by applying the film hydration method and optimized using an irregular factorial design. The prepared formulations were optimized based on different parameters including particle size, polydispersity index (PdI), zeta potential, encapsulation efficiency (EE) and release efficiency (RE). The optimized APZ-TFS were distributed in an ion-triggered deacetylated gellan gum solution (APZ-TFS-Gel) and evaluated in terms of pH, gelling time, rheological properties and in-vitro release study. The therapeutic efficacy of the best APZ-TFS-Gel was then tested in the mice model of schizophrenia induced by ketamine by evaluating various behavioral parameters. The optimized formulation showed the particle size of 72.12 ± 0.72 nm, the PdI of 0.19 ± 0.07, the zeta potential of -55.56 ± 1.9 mV, the EE of 97.06 ± 0.10%, and the RE of 70.84 ± 1.54%. The in-vivo results showed that compared with the other treatment groups, there was a considerable increase in swimming and climbing time and a decrease in locomotors activity and immobility time in the group receiving APZ-TFS-Gel. Thus, APZ-TFS-Gel was found to have desirable characteristics for therapeutic improvement.

Advancement in design of nanostructured lipid carriers for cancer targeting and theranostic application

BACKGROUND

Cancer development is associated with abnormal, uncontrolled cell growth and causes significant economic and social burdens to society. The global statistics of different cancers have been increasing because of the aging population, and the increasing prevalence of risk factors such as stress condition, overweight, changing reproductive patterns, and smoking. The prognosis of cancer treatment is high, if diagnosed in the early stage. Late-stage diagnosis, however, is still a big challenge for the clinician. The usual treatment scheme involves chemotherapy and surgery followed by radiotherapy.

SCOPE OF REVIEW

Chemotherapy is the most widely used therapeutic approach against cancer. However, it suffers from the major limitation of poor delivery of anticancer therapeutics to specific cancer-targeted tissues/cells.

MAJOR CONCLUSIONS

Nanomedicines, particularly nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) can improve the efficacy of encapsulated payload either through an active or passive targeting approach against different cancers. The targeted nanomedicine can be helpful in transporting drug carriers to the specifically tumor-targeted tissue/cells while sparing abstaining from the healthy tissue/cells. The active targeting utilizes the binding of a specific cancer ligand to the surface of the NLCs, which improves the therapeutic efficacy and safety of the cancer therapeutics.

GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE

This review shed light on the utilization of NLCs system for targeted therapy in different cancers. Furthermore, modification of NLCs as cancer theranostics is a recent advancement that is also discussed in the manuscript with a review of contemporary research carried out in this field.

Identifying Underlying Issues Related to the Inactive Excipients of Transfersomes based Drug Delivery System

Transfersomes are bilayer vesicles composed of phospholipid and edge activators, which are mostly surfactant. Transfersomes based drug delivery system has gained a lot of interest of the pharmaceutical researchers for their ability to improve drug penetration and permeation through the skin. Transdermal drug delivery via transfersomes has the potential to overcome the challenge of low systemic availability. However, this complex vesicular system has different issues to consider for developing a successful transdermal delivery system. One of the major ingredients, phospholipid, has versatile sources and variable effect on the vesicle size and drug entrapment in transfersomes. The other one, termed as edge activators or surfactant, has some crucial consideration of skin damage and toxicity depending upon its type and concentration. A complex interaction between type and concentration of phospholipid and surfactant was observed, which affect the physicochemical properties of transfersomes. This review focuses on the practical factors related to these two major ingredients, such as phospholipid and surfactant. The origin, purity, desired concentration, the susceptibility of degradation, etc. are the important factors for selecting phospholipid. Regarding surfactants, the major aspects are type and desired concentration. A successful development of transfersomes based drug delivery system depends on the proper considerations of these factors and practical aspects.

Liposomes and transferosomes: a breakthrough in topical and transdermal delivery

The topical and transdermal routes of drug administration are long known to the field of pharmaceutics. These routes have been explored for the delivery of a wide range of therapeutic agents over centuries. However, the anatomy of the skin and the physicochemical properties of molecules limit their transport via these routes. To overcome these challenges, a nano-phospholipid carrier called liposome was developed in the 1960s. Liposomal delivery of drugs was reported to be limited to the upper layers of skin. This led to the development of self-regulating and self-adaptable vesicles known as transfersomes. This review critically evaluates the barriers in delivery across the skin, recent advancements in liposomes, transfersomes and their impact in the pharmaceutical field.

Gellan gum based gastroretentive tablets for bioavailability enhancement of cilnidipine in human volunteers

Cilnidipine, a fourth-generation both L-and N-type calcium channel blocker (CCB) is safe and effective in lowering blood-pressure without reflex tachycardia compared to other dihydropyridine CCBs. However, its low solubility coupled with extensive first-pass metabolism results in very low oral bioavailability. Thus the study aimed to improve oral bioavailability of Cilnidipine by increasing its gastrointestinal transit-time and mucoadhesion. Gastroretentive tablets were prepared by direct-compression technique using gellan gum as hydrogel forming polymer and sodium bicarbonate as gas-generating agent. Statistical optimization was carried out by design approach which showed that gellan gum has significant impact on floating lag time, mucoadhesive strength, % drug release at 1 h and time to release 90% of drug. Drug release study revealed that optimized tablets prolonged drug release for 12 h and followed anomalous-diffusion indicating drug release is by coupling of both diffusion and erosion mechanism. Intragastric behaviour of formulation in human volunteers revealed that radio-opaque tablets remain buoyant in stomach for more than 6 h with sufficient mucoadhesion. Comparative pharmacokinetic profiling in human subjects revealed that relative bioavailability of Cilnidipine GR tablets was enhanced compared to reference tablets. Thus concluded that gastroretentive tablets to be promising strategy for improved oral bioavailability of Cilnidipine for effective treatment of hypertension.

Effect of Chitosan Coating on PLGA Nanoparticles for Oral Delivery of Thymoquinone: In Vitro, Ex Vivo, and Cancer Cell Line Assessments

In the present study, thymoquinone (TQ)-encapsulated chitosan- (CS)-coated poly(d,l-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) nanoparticles (NPs) were formulated using the emulsion evaporation method. NPs were optimized by using 33-QbD approach for improved efficacy against breast cancer. The optimized thymoquinone loaded chitosan coated Poly (d,l-lactide-co-glycolide) nanoparticles (TQ-CS-PLGA-NPs) were successfully characterized by different in vitro and ex vivo experiments as well as evaluated for cytotoxicity in MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cell lines. The surface coating of PLGA-NPs was completed by CS coating and there were no significant changes in particle size and entrapment efficiency (EE) observed. The developed TQ-CS-PLGA-NPs showed particle size, polydispersibility index (PDI), and %EE in the range between 126.03–196.71 nm, 0.118–0.205, and 62.75%–92.17%. The high and prolonged TQ release rate was achieved from TQ-PLGA-NPs and TQ-CS-PLGA-NPs. The optimized TQ-CS-PLGA-NPs showed significantly higher mucoadhesion and intestinal permeation compared to uncoated TQ-PLGA-NPs and TQ suspension. Furthermore, TQ-CS-PLGA-NPs showed statistically enhanced antioxidant potential and cytotoxicity against MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells compared to uncoated TQ-PLGA-NPs and pure TQ. On the basis of the above findings, it may be stated that chitosan-coated TQ-PLGA-NPs represent a great potential for breast cancer management.

Novel nanoemulsion gel containing triple natural bio-actives combination of curcumin, thymoquinone, and resveratrol improves psoriasis therapy: in vitro and in vivo studies

Curcumin, resveratrol, and thymoquinone are the potential natural bio-actives reported with good anti-psoriatic activity. However, poor aqueous solubility and limited skin permeation of these natural bio-actives hinder their effective delivery and potential therapeutic outcome. In this regard, current research work focuses on the design and optimization of nanoemulsion (NE) gel formulation for the concurrent delivery of these three drugs. The NE system is consisting of oleic acid as oil phase, Tween 20 as surfactant, and PEG 200 as co-surfactant. The optimized formulation exhibited the droplet size 76.20 ± 1.67 nm, PDI of 0.12 ± 0.05, RI of 1.403 ± 0.007, and viscosity of 137.9 ± 4.07 mp. Carbopol 940 (0.5% w/v) was used as the gelling agent to prepare the NE gel which exhibited a good texture profile. The optimized formulation exhibited a higher % of growth inhibition on A-431 cells and demonstrated good anti-angiogenic activity in the HET-CAM test. Finally, in vivo studies in Balb/c mice model showed improved anti-psoriatic conditions which indicated that the triple natural bio-actives combination in nanoemulgel formulation is effective in the management of psoriasis.