Journal Article

Physicochemical Characterization of Finasteride Nanosystem for Enhanced Topical Delivery

Khan, Nauman Rahim, Basit, Hafiz Muhammad, Shah, Kifayat Ullah, Shah, Shefaat Ullah, Munir, Muhammad Usman, Mahmood, Saima, Irfan, Malik Muhammad, Khan, Ikram Ullah, Rehman, Saif Ur, Sohaib, Muhammad

2021

Overview

The current work aimed to formulate a novel chitosan-based finasteride nanosystem (FNS-NS) for skin delivery to optimize the drug availability in skin for a longer time and enhance ex vivo performance of finasteride against androgenic alopecia. Both undecorated and chitosan decorated FNS-NSs were synthesized by a high energy emulsification technique. All the prepared nanosystems were further subjected to physicochemical characterizations like pH, viscosity, encapsulation efficiency, surface morphology and in vitro drug release behavior. The influence of the nanosystem on the drug permeation and retention in rat skin was examined using Franz diffusion cell apparatus. The droplet size of developed nanosystems ranged from 41 to 864 nm with a low polydispersity index. The zeta potential of the nanosystems was between -10 mV and +56 mV. This chitosan decorated nanosystem exhibited controlled drug release, ie about 78-97% in 24 h. Among all the nanosystems, our chitosan decorated formulation (F5) had low drug permeation (16.35 µg/cm ) and higher drug retention (10.81 µg/cm ). The abovementioned results demonstrate satisfactory in vitro drug release, skin retention profiles and ex vivo performance with chitosan decorated FNS-NS (F5). This optimized formulation could increase drug availability in skin and could become a promising carrier for topical delivery to treat androgenic alopecia.

• Publisher: Dove Medical Press Limited,Taylor & Francis Ltd,Dove Press,Dove,Dove Medical Press
• Subject: Acids / Administration, Cutaneous / Alopecia / androgenic alopecia / Animals / Baldness / Chemical Phenomena / chitosan / Chitosan - chemistry / Cosmetics / Dermatologic agents / Dermatology / Drug Delivery Systems / Drug Liberation / Drugs / Efficiency / Enzymes / Ethanol / Finasteride / Finasteride - administration & dosage / Finasteride - pharmacology / Formulae, receipts, prescriptions / Kinetics / Male / Molecular weight / Nanoemulsions / Nanoparticles / Nanoparticles - chemistry / Nanoparticles - ultrastructure / nanosystem / Oils - chemistry / Original Research / Permeability / permeation / Pharmaceutical industry / Rats / Rats, Sprague-Dawley / Retention / retention and androgenic alopecia / Skin / Skin - drug effects / Skin Absorption - drug effects / Solubility / Testosterone / Thermodynamics / Transdermal medication