The Use of Cellulose Nanocrystals for Potential Application in Topical Delivery of Hydroquinone

Abstract

Nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems can enhance drug permeation through the skin and improve the drug stability. The biodegradability and biocompatibility of cellulose nanocrystals have made these nanoparticles good candidates to use in biomedical applications. The hyperpigmentation is a common skin disorder that could be caused by number of reasons such as sun exposure and pregnancy. Hydroquinone could inhibit the production of melanin and eliminate the discolorations of skin. This study is aimed at introducing cellulose nanocrystals as suitable carriers for drug delivery to skin. Prepared cellulose nanocrystals were characterized by dynamic light scattering and atomic force microscopy. The size of cellulose nanocrystals determined using dynamic light scattering was 301 ± 10 nm. Hydroquinone-cellulose nanocrystal complex was prepared by incubating of hydroquinone solution in cellulose nanocrystals suspension. The size of hydroquinone-cellulose nanocrystal complex determined using dynamic light scattering was 310 ± 10 nm. The hydroquinone content of the hydroquinone-cellulose complex was determined using UV/vis spectroscopy. Hydroquinone was bound to cellulose nanocrystals representing 79.3 ± 2% maximum binding efficiency when 1.1 mg hydroquinone was added to 1 mL of cellulose nanocrystals suspension (2 mg cellulose nanocrystal). The hydroquinone-cellulose nanocrystal complex showed an approximately sustained release profile of hydroquinone. Approximately, 80% of bound hydroquinone released in 4 h.

Nanocellulose as a natural source for groundbreaking applications in materials science: Today’s state

“…Three categories of nanocellulose materials have been described as drug carriers: planar hydrogels (fleeces, films, membranes, coatings) [410][411][412][413], CNFs [414,415] as well as CNCs [416][417][418][419], with the two latter preferentially formulated as nano-and microparticles, gels, or suspensions [9]. For the entrapment of drugs these materials were used in the wet native [37,420,421], dried (freeze-dried, critical point dried) [422] or semi-dried [413,423] form, as well as air-dried materials with a shape memory effect [29,424].…”

Internalization of (bis)phosphonate-modified cellulose nanocrystals by human osteoblast cells

“…Such a wide application spectrum is related mainly to their nanometer-sized features, large surface area, specific biomechanical characteristics, surface chemistry, ease of conjugation, high biocompatibility, and low (if any) cytotoxicity (Alexandrescu et al 2013) with tolerogenic potential to the immune system (Tomić et al 2016). Due to a general acceptance as˝biosafe˝nanomaterial (Č olić et al 2014;Tomić et al 2016), the cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), with typical sizes of \300 nm in length and around 10 nm in diameter (Habibi et al 2010), have also been readily evaluated as catalysis (Zhou et al 2013) in biomedical engineering (Sinha et al 2015), as well as targeted drugs (Taheri & Mohammadi 2015) and gene (Hu et al 2015) delivery. Recent studies also demonstrated the potential of CNCs to target tumours via the Enhanced Permeability and Retention (EPR) effect and delivery of organic compounds or drugs into cancer cells (Drogat et al 2011).…”

Cellulose Nanocrystals as a Sustainable Raw Material: Cytotoxicity and Applications on Healthcare Technology

“…In this direction, another nanotechnology‐based drug delivery system designed (hydroquinone–CNC complex) inhibited the production of melanin and eliminated the discolorations of skin caused by sun exposure and pregnancy. The conjugate was prepared to enhance drug permeation through the skin and to promote sustained release (80% of bound hydroquinone was released in 4 h) …”