Optimization, In Vitro and Ex Vivo Assessment of Nanotransferosome Gels Infused with a Methanolic Extract of <i>Solanum xanthocarpum</i> for the Topical Treatment of Psoriasis

Abstract

The goal of this investigation is to improve the topical delivery of medicine by preparing and maximizing the potential of a nanotransferosome gel infused with Solanum xanthocarpum methanolic extract (SXE) to provide localized and regulated distribution. Thin-film hydration was used to create SXE-infused nanotransferosomes (SXE-NTFs), and a Box–Behnken design was used to improve them. Phospholipon 90G (X1), cholesterol (X2) and sodium cholate (X3) were chosen as the independent variables, and their effects on vesicle size (Y1), polydispersity index (PDI) (Y2) and the percentage of entrapment efficiency (EE) (Y3) were observed both individually and in combination. For the SXE-NTFs, the vesicle size was 146.3 nm, the PDI was 0.2594, the EE was 82.24 ± 2.64%, the drug-loading capacity was 8.367 ± 0.07% and the drug release rate was 78.86 ± 5.24%. Comparing the antioxidant activity to conventional ascorbic acid, it was determined to be 83.51 ± 3.27%. Ex vivo permeation tests revealed that the SXE-NTF gel (82.86 ± 2.38%) considerably outperformed the SXE gel (35.28 ± 1.62%) in terms of permeation. In addition, it seemed from the confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) picture of the Wistar rat’s skin that the rhodamine-B-loaded SXE-NTF gel had a higher penetration capability than the control. Dermatokinetic studies showed that the SXE-NTF gel had a better retention capability than the SXE gel. According to the experimental results, the SXE-NTF gel is a promising and successful topical delivery formulation.

Keywords

• <i>Solanum xanthocarpum</i>
• transferosomes
• topical route
• CLSM
• dermatokinetic
• optimization