Enhancement of Curcumin’s Anti-Psoriatic Efficacy via Formulation into Tea Tree Oil-Based Emulgel

Abstract

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease characterized by the hyperproliferation and aberrant differentiation of epidermal keratinocytes. It is a debilitating condition that can cause significant physical and emotional distress. Natural anti-psoriatic agents have been investigated as alternatives to conventional allopathic medications, as they have notable limitations and drawbacks. Curcumin and tea tree oil are cost-efficient and effective anti-inflammatory medicines with less adverse effects compared to synthetic psoriasis medications. Our research endeavors to harness the therapeutic potential of these natural compounds by developing an herbal anti-psoriatic topical drug delivery system. This novel method uses curcumin and tea tree oil to create a bi-phasic emulgel drug delivery system. Formulations F1 (gel) and F2 (emulgel) have high drug content percentages of 84.2% and 96.7%, respectively. The emulgel showed better spreadability for cutaneous applications, with a viscosity of 92,200 ± 943 cp compared to the gel’s 56,200 ± 1725 cp. The emulgel released 94.48% of the drugs, compared to 87.58% for the gel. These formulations conform to the zero-order and Higuchi models, and their stability over a three-month period is crucial. In vivo, the emulgel healed psoriasis symptoms faster than the usual gel. The gathered results confirmed the emulgel’s potential as a drug delivery method, emphasizing the complementary benefits of tea tree oil and curcumin as an effective new therapy for psoriasis.

Potential of Curcumin in the Management of Skin Diseases

“…A number of novel dosage forms have been recently proposed to overcome this limitation of CUR efficacy in the improvement of psoriasis. Interesting outcomes in topical administration have been reported when CUR was used in the form of nano-emulgel [37], bi-phasic emulgel with tea tree oil [38], microemulsions [27], peptide-modified liposomes loaded with curcumin [39], nanostructured lipid carriers [40], nano-sponges [41], invasosomes [42], and smartPearls ® technology [43,44]. Some innovative oral forms of CUR have been also investigated.…”