Comparison of normal versus imiquimod-induced psoriatic skin in mice for penetration of drugs and nanoparticles

Abstract

BackgroundAs an immune-mediated skin disease, psoriasis encounters therapeutic challenges on topical drug development due to the unclear mechanism, and complicated morphological and physiological changes in the skin.MethodsIn this study, imiquimod-induced psoriatic mouse skin (IMQ-psoriatic skin) was chosen as the in vitro pathological model to explore the penetration behaviors of drugs and nanoparticles (NPs).ResultsCompared with normal skin, significantly higher penetration and skin accumulation were observed in IMQ-psoriatic skin for all the three model drugs. When poorly water-soluble curcumin was formulated as NPs that were subsequently loaded in gel, the drug’s penetration and accumulation in both normal and IMQ-psoriatic skins were significantly improved, in comparison with that of the curcumin suspension. Interestingly, the NPs’ size effect, in terms of their penetration and accumulation behaviors, was more pronounced for IMQ-psoriatic skin. Furthermore, by taking three sized FluoSpheres® as model NPs, confocal laser scanning microscopy demonstrated that the penetration pathways of NPs no longer followed the hair follicles channels, instead they were more widely distributed in the IMQ-psoriatic skin.ConclusionIn conclusion, the alternation of the IMQ-psoriatic skin structure will lead to the enhanced penetration of drug and NPs, and should be considered in topical drug formulation and further clinical practice for psoriasis therapy.

Improved Skin Permeability after Topical Treatment with Serine Protease: Probing the Penetration of Rapamycin by Scanning Transmission X-ray Microscopy

“…This suggests that diffusive penetration of topically applied trypsin takes more than 8 h to reach and disturb the tight junctions in the stratum granusolum. The present finding is also consistent with earlier ones that drug penetration is enhanced in inflamed skin . However, this is different from studies on the penetration of polymer nanocarriers that were not affected by inflammation …”

Chemical profiling and anti-psoriatic activity of marine sponge (Dysidea avara) in induced imiquimod-psoriasis-skin model

“…Dysidea avara in this study conducted on a mouse model of psoriasis displayed encouraging anti-psoriatic properties. Comparison of IMQ-induced mice psoriasis skin lesion RNA microarray data with psoriasis patients, confirming similar gene expression alterations [35]. This study has several strengths, but also some limitations related to the study type (pilot study) and needs further validation with an omits approach.…”

Tackling the various classes of nano-therapeutics employed in topical therapy of psoriasis

“…Lin Sun, has tested the penetration of nanoparticles in imiquimodinduced psoriasis in mouse models. Imiquimod treated skin has shown improved skin permeation and retention than normal mice skin (Sun et al, 2018). Thus, the literature confirms that skin suffers major structural and functional changes in the case of psoriasis which directly affects drug delivery and retention.…”