Preparation and Optimization of Garlic Oil/Apple Cider Vinegar Nanoemulsion Loaded with Minoxidil to Treat Alopecia

Abstract

Alopecia areata is a scarless, localized hair loss disorder that is typically treated with topical formulations that ultimately only further irritate the condition. Hence, the goal of this study was to develop a nanoemulsion with a base of garlic oil (GO) and apple cider vinegar (APCV) and loaded with minoxidil (MX) in order to enhance drug solubilization and permeation through skin. A distance coordinate exchange quadratic mixture design was used to optimize the proposed nanoemulsion. Span 20 and Tween 20 mixtures were used as the surfactant, and Transcutol was used as the co-surfactant. The developed formulations were characterized for their droplet size, minoxidil steady-state flux (MX Jss) and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) against Propionibacterium acnes. The optimized MX-GO-APCV nanoemulsion had a droplet size of 110 nm, MX Jss of 3 μg/cm2 h, and MIC of 0.275 μg/mL. The optimized formulation acquired the highest ex vivo skin permeation parameters compared to MX aqueous dispersion, and varying formulations lacked one or more components of the proposed nanoemulsion. GO and APCV in the optimized formulation had a synergistic, enhancing activity on the MX permeation across the skin membrane, and the percent permeated increased from 12.7% to 41.6%. Finally, the MX-GO-APCV nanoemulsion followed the Korsmeyer–Peppas model of diffusion, and the value of the release exponent (n) obtained for the formulations was found to be 1.0124, implying that the MX permeation followed Super case II transport. These results demonstrate that the MX-GO-APCV nanoemulsion formulation could be useful in promoting MX activity in treating alopecia areata.

Rapid oral transmucosal delivery of zaleplon–lavender oil utilizing self-nanoemulsifying lyophilized tablets technology: development, optimization and pharmacokinetic evaluation

“…The in-vitro dissolution results indicated that 50% of the ZP dose loaded in the optimized ZP-LV-SNELTs formulation was released in simulated saliva fluid with a pH of 6.8 within 45 sec compared with the commercial conventional tablet formulation, which released the same drug amount (50%) after 13 min. The enhancement in ZP release from the developed optimal formulations signified the improvement of ZP dissolution in the nanosized drug delivery system, which offered a large surface area for drug dissolution and release (Rizg et al., 2021 ). Figure 7 shows the in-vitro drug release profiles of the optimized ZP-LV-SNELTs versus the commercial formulation.…”

Fabrication, assessment, and optimization of alendronate sodium nanoemulsion-based injectable in-situ gel formulation for management of osteoporosis

“…A visual examination was done of the rapid emulsification capacity and transparency of the ALS-NEs to assess the NE competency (Rizg et al., 2021 ).…”

“…The targeted samples were subjected to the dynamic light-scattering method (Zetatrac, Microtrac, Montgomeryville, PA, USA) in order to quantify the size of the NEs’ droplets and the NEs’ polydispersity indexes (PDIs). Assessments were done in triplicate (Rizg et al., 2021 ).…”

“…This cycle was repeated three times, and then the formulations were visually examined for indications of instability. The thermodynamic stability of the investigated NEs was confirmed using the freeze–thaw accelerated stability evaluation at various temperatures (Rizg et al., 2021 ). In this investigation, the samples underwent three successive freeze–thaw cycles once the droplet size was determined (freezing at −25 0 C for approximately 24 hours and thawing at room temperature for another 24 hours).…”

“…Nanoscale materials have previously unheard-of physical, chemical, and biological properties that could enhance or change the characteristics of drugs (Alhakamy et al., 2022 ; Salem et al., 2022 ). For the improvement of features of medications such as solubility and stability, successive delivery paradigms called nanoemulsions (NEs) are useful (Rizg et al., 2021 ). They are primarily being researched as delivery platforms for various active agents since they typically consist of nanosized oil droplets, which are stabilized through an admixture of surfactants and co-surfactants (Hosny et al., 2021a ).…”