Preparation and Characterization of Curcumin Nanoemulgel Utilizing Ultrasonication Technique for Wound Healing: In Vitro, Ex Vivo, and In Vivo Evaluation

Abstract

Hydrogels being a drug delivery system has great significance particularly for topical application in cutaneous open wound. Its specific physicochemical properties such as non-adhesiveness, moisture retention, exudate absorption, and gas permeability make them ideal as a drug delivery vehicle for wound healing application. Further, curcumin (a natural bioactive) was selected as a therapeutic agent to incorporate into the hydrogel system to design and develop nanogel pharmaceutical products for wound healing. Although, curcumin possesses remarkable anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-infective activity along with hastening the healing process by acting over the different stages of the wound healing process, but its poor biopharmaceutical (low aqueous solubility and skin penetrability) attributes hamper their therapeutic efficacy for skin applications. The current investigation aimed to develop the curcumin-loaded nanogel system and evaluated to check the improvement in the therapeutic efficacy of curcumin through a nanomedicine-based approach for wound healing activity in Wistar rats. The curcumin was enclosed inside the nanoemulsion system prepared through a high-energy ultrasonic emulsification technique at a minimum concentration of surfactant required to nanoemulsify the curcumin-loaded oil system (Labrafac PG) having droplet size 56.25 ± 0.69 nm with polydispersity index 0.05 ± 0.01 and negatively surface charge with zeta potential −20.26 ± 0.65 mV. It was observed that the impact of Smix (surfactant/co-surfactant mixture) ratio on droplet size of generated nanoemulsion is more pronounced at lower Smix concentration (25%) compared to the higher Smix concentration (30%). The optimized curcumin-loaded nanoemulsion was incorporated into a 0.5% Carbopol® 940 hydrogel system for topical application. The developed curcumin nanoemulgel exhibited thixotropic rheological behavior and a significant (p < 0.05) increase in skin penetrability characteristics compared to curcumin dispersed in conventional hydrogel system. The in vivo wound healing efficacy study and histological examination of healed tissue specimen further signify the role of the nanomedicine-based approach to improve the biopharmaceutical attributes of curcumin.

Tamoxifen Citrate Containing Topical Nanoemulgel Prepared by Ultrasonication Technique: Formulation Design and In Vitro Evaluation

“…This can confirm that the mean droplet size of the NE system plays a determinant role in the in vitro drug release, irrespective of the percentage (%) compositions of the NE system. The study results are in agreement with some published studies [ 8 , 18 , 34 ]. The second sustained phase of TAM-loaded NE was recorded for the next 24 h. By the end of the 24-h period, the maximum percentage of cumulative TAM released from the tested NE formulations was 96–99.1%.…”

“…Firstly, the uniform dispersion system was prepared by mixing 1% w / w (10 mg/g) of TAM drug in the mixture of the oil phase and S mix phase at the ratios presented in Table 1 , through the vortexing technique. Hence, the aqueous phase was added with continuous vortexing for one minute [ 34 ]. Afterwards, the uniform dispersion system obtained was ultrasonicated using an ultrasonic homogenizer (FS-300N, Gaoyou city, China) in a water bath for a varying time duration (five minutes) at a constant amplitude of 50% [ 16 , 18 ].…”

“…This indicates a non-Newtonian, pseudoplastic property with thixotropic behaviour for developed TAM-NEGs [ 42 , 43 ]. This is appropriate behaviour for pharmaceutical formulations designed for topical skin treatment [ 34 , 44 , 45 ].…”

Electrospun Coaxial Fibers to Optimize the Release of Poorly Water-Soluble Drug

“…More than two-thirds of promising drugs on the market have limited biomedical functions due to dissolution problems [ 6 , 7 , 8 ]. Thus, many drug delivery systems are exploited to improve the bioavailability of poorly soluble drugs, such as nanoparticles [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ], hydrogels [ 14 , 15 ], 3D printing [ 16 , 17 ], electrospun fibers [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ], nanocapsules [ 22 ], and microspheres [ 23 ]. Among many drug delivery systems, electrospinning, a “one-step” process with cheap raw materials, shows remarkable potential in the delivery of poorly soluble drugs in recent studies.…”

Influence of Bile Acids in Hydrogel Pharmaceutical Formulations on Dissolution Rate and Permeation of Clindamycin Hydrochloride

“…Among them, hydrogels have a great significance for topical drug delivery due to their hydrophilic viscoelastic properties and the ability to absorb and retain large amounts of water, while maintaining their structure, mechanical strength, and elasticity [ 6 ]. Their specific properties such as moisture retention, exudate absorption, and gas permeability make them ideal as a vehicle for topical wound healing drug delivery [ 7 ].…”