Wound-healing is a very complex and evolutionary process that involves a great variety of dynamic steps. Although different pharmaceutical agents have been developed to hasten the woundhealing process, the existing agents are still far from optimal. The present work aimed to prepare and evaluate the wound-healing efficacy of phenytoin-loaded copper nanoparticles (PHT-loaded CuNPs). CuNPs were biosynthesized using licorice aqueous extract. The prepared CuNPs were loaded with PHT by adsorption, characterized, and evaluated for wound-healing efficiency. Results showed that both plain and PHT-loaded CuNPs were monodisperse and exhibited a cubic and hexagonal morphology. The mechanism by which PHT was adsorbed on the surface of CuNPs was best fit by the Langmuir model with a maximum loaded monolayer capacity of 181 mg/g. The kinetic study revealed that the adsorption reaction followed the pseudo-second order while the thermodynamic parameters indicated that the adsorption process was physical in nature and endothermic, and occurred spontaneously. Moreover, the in vivo wound-healing activity of PHT-loaded CuNP impregnated hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose (HPMC) gel was carried out using an excisional wound model in rats. Data showed that PHT-loaded CuNPs accelerated epidermal regeneration and stimulated granulation and tissue formation in treated rats compared to controls. Additionally, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis showed that lesions treated with PHT-loaded CuNPs were associated with a marked increase in the expression of dermal procollagen type I and a decrease in the expression of the inflammatory JAK3 compared to control samples. In conclusion, PHT-loaded CuNPs are a promising platform for effective and rapid wound-healing.

These results confirm the potential of these mucoadhesive vaginal tablets to enhance P4 efficacy and avoid the side effects associated with IM injection.

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Monodisperse albumin microspheres were successfully prepared by both chemical or thermal hardening methods via membrane emulsification using microporous glass membranes with uniform pore sizes. The monodispersity of the microspheres was found to depend strongly on parameters such as albumin concentration, emulsifier concentration, and volume ratio of the internal aqueous phase (albumin solution) to the dispersion medium (organic solvent). The optimum conditions for obtaining monodisperse albumin microspheres are described.

Nimesulide is a preferential COX-2 inhibitor. It has high anti-inflammatory, antipyretic and analgesic activities. It has poor aqueous solubility (0.01mg/ml). Solubility of nimesulide was studied using different cosolvent mixtures and various classes of nonionic surfactants. Dimethylacetamide (DMA); at 10% v/v exhibited the highest solubilizing effect (10-fold) towards nimesulide as compared with other cosolvents. Among the tested nonionic surfactants at 10% w/v, brij 58 which exhibited the highest solubilization effect (39-fold). The dissolution of nimesulide from solid dispersions was also studied. Solid inclusion complexes of nimesulide with β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) and hydroxypropyl β-cyclodextrin (HP β-CD) were prepared at a molar ratio of 1:1. Eutectic mixtures were obtained at weight ratio of 1:9 binary systems as confirmed by DSC studies. The dissolution studies indicated that the highest relative amounts dissolved were obtained from solid dispersions as compared with physical mixtures or pure nimesulide. Also higher relative amounts dissolved were obtained with polyvinylpyrrolidones (PVPs) at weight ratio of nimesulide/PVP 40000 1:7. Physicochemical characterization of pure drug, PVP 40000, nimesulide/PVP 40000 solid dispersion and the physical mixture at this ratio were conducted by DSC, FTIR, X-RPD and SEM. The DSC thermograms and X-RPD patterns demonstrated that nimesulide existed in an amorphous form and there is an intermolecular hydrogen bond between the drug and the carrier as shown from FTIR analysis. SEM images confirmed the absence of the crystalline structure of nimesulide in the solid dispersion.

These results confirm that Brij®35 and Pluronic® F-127 micelles are promising carriers to overcome PG shortcomings through enhancing its aqueous solubility and vaginal permeability.

Curcumin (CUR) is one of the most commonly used herbal product; it shows effective antiinflammatory and anti-oxidant effects. However, poor aqueous solubility and low permeability are the major challenges in therapeutic application of curcumin. One class of vesicular nanocarriers called "Niosome and ethosome" which have proved to possess distinct advantages were used to encapsulate curcumin and evaluated for their morphology, particle size, zeta potential, entrapment efficiency (EE%) and drug release. They were incorporated into hydroxy propyl methyl cellulose (HPMC15000) gel then, evaluated on the rat skin via inhibition of carrageenan induced rat paw edema. The results showed that the particle size of curcumin loaded niosomes and ethosomes were ranged (317.5±1.91 to 558.3±8.587 nm) and (182.1±5.3 to 354.5±30.03 nm), respectively. Skin permeation studies demonstrated that CUR permeability coefficient through rat kin for gel formulations of loaded vesicles was ~ four times higher as compared to free CUR. The in-vivo anti-inflammatory studies proved that gel formulations of CUR vesicles possessed higher significant inhibition of carrageenan induced rat paw edema when compared to pure curcumin. Accordingly, the results revealed that, curcumin loaded nanovesicels held great potential approaches as anti-inflammatory in topical application.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) can be defined as the administration of a nontoxic drug or dye known as Photosensitizer (PS) either systemically, locally, or topically to a patient bearing a lesion. Methylene blue considered as a photosensitizer for photodynamic therapy. Current topical and oral therapies for acne vulgaris have limited efficacy, especially in moderate to severe cases, In view of this, the aim of our study was to use methylene blue in the form of niosomal hydrogel for photodynamic treatment of acne. To reach this objective we studied the following aspects; formulation of MB blue in different niosomal preparation, characterization of methylene blue niosomes, Span 60 transition temperatures, In vitro release study, kinetic analysis of the release data, factors affecting the encapsulation of methylene blue in niosomes via effect of: amount of drug, cholesterol: span 60 ratios, and stabilizers. The results revealed that, niosomes were successfully produced by reversed phase evaporation technique using different ratio of cholesterol: span 60.The most favorable amount of MB could be used in niosomal preparation was 1000µg. The best fit kinetic favored Higuchi diffusion mechanism. The incorporation of MB niosomes in HPMC 3% gel resulted in feasible release rate of MB. The data obtained served as the basis to reach a secondary objective which is clinical evaluation of selected niosomal gel of methylene blue for photodynamic treatment of acne which showed higher significant improvement in inflammation when compared with IPL treatment.