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Follicular delivery of spironolactone via nanostructured lipid carriers for management of alopecia
Authors Shamma R, Hassan Aburahma M
Received 21 August 2014
Accepted for publication 22 September 2014
Published 26 November 2014 Volume 2014:9(1) Pages 5449—5460
DOI https://doi.org/10.2147/IJN.S73010
Checked for plagiarism Yes
Review by Single-blind
Peer reviewer comments 4
Editor who approved publication: Dr Thomas J Webster
Rehab Nabil Shamma, Mona Hassan Aburahma
Department of Pharmaceutics and Industrial Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt
Abstract: Spironolactone (SL) is a US Food and Drug Administration-approved drug for the treatment of hypertension and various edematous conditions. SL has gained a lot of attention for treating androgenic alopecia due to its potent antiandrogenic properties. Recently, there has been growing interest for follicular targeting of drug molecules for treatment of hair and scalp disorders using nanocolloidal lipid-based delivery systems to minimize unnecessary systemic side effects associated with oral drug administration. Accordingly, the objective of this study is to improve SL efficiency and safety in treating alopecia through the preparation of colloidal nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) for follicular drug delivery. SL-loaded NLCs were prepared by an emulsion solvent diffusion and evaporation method using 23 full factorial design. All of the prepared formulations were spherical in shape with nanometric size range (215.6–834.3 nm) and entrapment efficiency >74%. Differential scanning calorimetry thermograms and X-ray diffractograms revealed that SL exists in amorphous form within the NLC matrices. The drug release behavior from the NLCs displayed an initial burst release phase followed by sustained release of SL. Confocal laser scanning microscopy confirmed the potential of delivering the fluorolabeled NLCs within the follicles, suggesting the possibility of using SL-loaded NLCs for localized delivery of SL into the scalp hair follicles.
Keywords: spironolactone, androgenic alopecia, nanostructured lipid carriers, follicular targeting, confocal laser scanning microscopy
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