Revolutionizing Psoriasis Topical Treatment: Enhanced Efficacy Through Ceramide/Phospholipid Composite Cerosomes Co-Delivery of Cyclosporine and Dithranol: In-Vitro, Ex-Vivo, and in-Vivo Studies

Purpose

Improving the treatment of psoriasis is a serious challenge today. Psoriasis is an immune-mediated skin condition affecting 125 million people worldwide. It is commonly treated with cyclosporine-A (CsA) and dithranol (DTH). CsA suppresses the activation of T-cells, immune cells involved in forming psoriatic lesions. Meanwhile, DTH is a potent anti-inflammatory and anti-proliferative drug that effectively reduces the severity of psoriasis symptoms such as redness, scaling, and skin thickness. CsA and DTH belong to BCS class II with limited oral bioavailability. We aim to develop a drug delivery system for topical co-delivery of CsA and DTH, exploring its therapeutic potential.

Methods

Firstly, we developed a niosomal drug delivery system based on ceramide IIIB to form Cerosomes. Cerosomes were prepared from a mixture of Ceramide, hyaluronic acid, and edge activator using a thin-film hydration technique. To co-deliver CsA and DTH topically for the treatment of psoriasis. These two hydrophobic drugs encapsulated into our synthesized positively charged particle cerosomes.

Results

 Cerosomes had an average particle size of (222.36 nm± 0.36), polydispersity index of (0.415±0.04), Entrapment Efficiency of (96.91%± 0.56), and zeta potential of (29.36±0.38mV) for selected formula. In vitro, In silico, in vivo, permeation, and histopathology experiments have shown that cerosomes enhanced the skin penetration of both hydrophobic drugs by 66.7% compared to the CsA/DTH solution. Imiquimod (IMQ) induced psoriatic mice model was topically treated with our CsA/DTH cerosomes. We found that our formulation enhances the skin penetration of both drugs and reduces psoriasis area and severity index (PASI score) by 2.73 times and 42.85%, respectively, compared to the CsA/DTH solution. Moreover, it reduces the levels of proinflammatory cytokines, TNF-α, IL-10, and IL-6 compared to CsA/DTH solution administration.

Conclusion

The Cerosomes nano-vesicle-containing CsA/DTH represents a more promising topical treatment for psoriasis, giving new hope to individuals with psoriasis, compared to commercial and other conventional alternatives.

PEGylated Tween 80-functionalized chitosan-lipidic nano-vesicular hybrids for heightening nose-to-brain delivery and bioavailability of metoclopramide

A PEGylated Tween 80-functionalized chitosan-lipidic (PEG-T-Chito-Lip) nano-vesicular hybrid was developed for intranasal administration as an alternative delivery route to help improve the poor oral bioavailability of BCS class-III model/antiemetic (metoclopramide hydrochloride; MTC). The influence of varying levels of chitosan, cholesterol, PEG 600, and Tween 80 on the stability/release parameters of the formulated nanovesicles was optimized using Draper-Lin Design. Two optimized formulations (Opti-Max and Opti-Min) with both maximized and minimized MTC-release goals, were predicted, characterized, and proved their vesicular outline via light/electron microscopy, along with the mutual prompt/extended in-vitro release patterns. The dual-optimized MTC-loaded PEG-T-Chito-Lip nanovesicles were loaded in intranasal in-situ gel (ISG) and further underwent in-vivo pharmacokinetics/nose-to-brain delivery valuation on Sprague-Dawley rats. The absorption profiles in plasma (plasma-AUC_0-∞) of the intranasal dual-optimized MTC-loaded nano-vesicular ISG formulation in pretreated rats were 2.95-fold and 1.64-fold more than rats pretreated with orally administered MTC and intranasally administered raw MTC-loaded ISG formulation, respectively. Interestingly, the brain-AUC_0-∞ of the intranasal dual-optimized MTC-loaded ISG was 10 and 3 times more than brain-AUC_0-∞ of the MTC-oral tablet and the intranasal raw MTC-loaded ISG, respectively. It was also revealed that the intranasal dual-optimized ISG significantly had the lowest liver-AUC_0-∞ (862.19 ng.g^-1.h^-1) versus the MTC-oral tablet (5732.17 ng.g^-1.h^-1) and the intranasal raw MTC-loaded ISG (1799.69 ng.g^-1.h^-1). The brain/blood ratio profile for the intranasal dual-optimized ISG was significantly enhanced over all other MTC formulations (P < 0.05). Moreover, the 198.55% drug targeting efficiency, 75.26% nose-to-brain direct transport percentage, and 4.06 drug targeting index of the dual-optimized formulation were significantly higher than those of the raw MTC-loaded ISG formulation. The performance of the dual-optimized PEG-T-Chito-Lip nano-vesicular hybrids for intranasal administration evidenced MTC-improved bioavailability, circumvented hepatic metabolism, and enhanced brain targetability, with increased potentiality in heightening the convenience and compliance for patients.

Development and Evaluation of Biocompatible Topical Petrolatum-liquid Crystal Formulations with Enhanced Skin Permeation Properties

Transdermal administration represents a major advancement over traditional pharmaceutical dosing methods. However, a frequent issue is inadequate penetration of the active medicinal component through the skin. As a result, in the current research, we assessed the utility of newly developed petrolatum-liquid crystal (LC) ointment formulations and characterized their biocompatibility and function in the transdermal drug delivery system. To begin, we made petrolatum-LC formulations using p-aminobenzoic acid (PABA) as a hydrophilic model molecule. The viscosity, small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), particle diameters, and z-potential were measured to assess the physicochemical properties of the formulations. A dialysis release technique was used to evaluate medication release from petrolatum-LC formulations. In vitro testing was performed to determine the potential to enhance skin penetration. The biocompatibility of the produced formulations was further tested using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and single-cell gel electrophoresis. According to the results, the novel petrolatum-LC formulations are biocompatible and effective in forming hexosomes. PABA skin penetration was significantly enhanced by the new petrolatum-LC formulations. According to this study, petroleum-LC formulations are more efficient than commercial petrolatum in terms of skin permeability improvement and PABA skin concentration.

Improvement of the Ocular Bioavailability of Econazole Nitrate upon Complexation with Cyclodextrins

Econazole nitrate (EC) is an active, imidazole antifungal agent. However, low aqueous solubility and dissolution rate of EC has discouraged its usage for the treatment of ophthalmic fungal infection. In this study, inclusion complexes of EC with cyclodextrins were prepared to enhance its solubility, dissolution, and ocular bioavailability. To achieve this goal, EC was complexed with β-CyD/HP-β-CyD using kneading, co-precipitation, and freeze-drying techniques. Phase-solubility studies were performed to investigate the complexes in the liquid form. Additionally, the complexes in the solid form were characterized with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Furthermore, different eye drops containing EC-CyD complexes were prepared using different polymers and then characterized regarding their drug contents, pH, viscosity, mucoadhesive strength, and in vitro release characteristics. The results showed that stable EC-CyD complexes were formed in 1:1 molar ratio as designated by B_S-type diagram. Econazole nitrate water solubility was significantly increased in about three- and fourfold for β-CyD and HP-β-CyD, respectively. The results showed that the prepared complexes were spherical in shape having an average particle diameter from 110 to 288.33 nm with entrapment efficiency ranging from 64.24 to 95.27%. DSC investigations showed the formation of real inclusion complexes obtained with co-precipitation technique. From the in vitro studies, all eye drops containing co-precipitate complexes exhibited higher release rate than that of other complexes and followed the diffusion-controlled mechanism. In vivo study proved that eye drops containing EC-CyD complexes showed higher ocular bioavailability than EC alone which indicated by higher AUC, C_max, and relative bioavailability values.