Repurposing Lovastatin Cytotoxicity against the Tongue Carcinoma HSC3 Cell Line Using a Eucalyptus Oil-Based Nanoemulgel Carrier

Abstract

Tongue cancer is one of the most common carcinomas of the head and neck region. The antitumor activities of statins, including lovastatin (LV), and the essential oil of eucalyptus (Eu oil), have been adequately reported. The aim of this study was to develop a nanoemulgel containing LV combined with Eu oil that could then be made into a nanoemulsion and assessed to determine its cytotoxicity against the cell line human chondrosarcoma-3 (HSC3) of carcinoma of the tongue. An I-optimal coordinate-exchange quadratic mixture design was adopted to optimize the investigated nanoemulsions. The droplet size and stability index of the developed formulations were measured to show characteristics of the nanoemulsions. The optimized LV loaded self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery system (LV-Eu-SNEDDS) was loaded into the gelling agent Carbopol 934 to develop the nanoemulgel and evaluated for its rheological properties. The cytotoxic efficiency of the optimized LV-Eu-SNEDDS loaded nanoemulgel was tested for cell viability, and the caspase-3 enzyme test was used against the HSC3 cell line of squamous carcinoma of the tongue. The optimized nanoemulsion had a droplet size of 85 nm and a stability index of 93%. The manufactured nanoemulgel loaded with the optimum LV-Eu-SNEDDS exhibited pseudoplastic flow with thixotropic behavior. The developed optimum LV-Eu-SNEDDS‒loaded nanoemulgel had the best half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) and caspase-3 enzyme values of the formulations developed for this study, and these features improved the ability of the nanoemulsion-loaded gel to deliver the drug to the investigated target cells. In addition, the in vitro cell viability studies revealed the synergistic effect between LV and Eu oil in the treatment of tongue cancer. These findings illustrated that the LV-Eu-SNEDDS-loaded gel formulation could be beneficial in the local treatment of tongue cancer.

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

“…It can also be seen from the figure that increasing the percentage of Sorbeth-20 decreased the drug-loading capacity of the formulations. This could be ascribed to the amphiphilic nature of factor B, which contributed to its ability to decrease the interfacial tension between the aqueous and organic phases, which might lead to the escape of the loaded drug into the surrounding aqueous phase similar reports were found in literature (Hosny et al., 2021 ; Md et al., 2021 ; Rizg et al., 2022 ).…”

“…Figure 3(A) shows that the measured droplet size was much decreased when the percentages of surfactant and co-surfactant were increased. This could be due to their ability to lower the interfacial tension between the aqueous and organic phases, thus developing droplets with smaller diameters (Rizg et al., 2022 ).…”

Utilization of a nanostructured lipid carrier encapsulating pitavastatin– Pinus densiflora oil for enhancing cytotoxicity against the gingival carcinoma HGF-1 cell line

“…The observed decrease in drug release from the gel containing optimal formulation compared with the aqueous dispersion of the same formulation could be ascribed to the increased viscosity of the formulation due to the polymers used; this might have somewhat hindered the drug release (Rizg et al., 2022 ).…”

“…This cycle was repeated three times, and the tested formulations were examined visually for signs of instability. The formulations that passed the cool–warm cycle examination were subjected to varying temperatures to affirm their thermodynamic stability (Rizg et al., 2022 ). The PV-Pd-NLCs went through three consecutive freeze–thaw cycles (i.e.…”

“…To prepare a PV-Pd-NLCs gel, a certain amount of the optimal PV-Pd-NLCs that contained 100 mg/g of PV was dispersed in 10 mL of double distilled water. Next, 1% Carbopol 940 and 0.1% propylparaben were sprinkled in the prepared dispersions and stirred at 200 rpm until the Carbopol 940 was completely dispersed (Rizg et al., 2022 ). The dispersion was treated with a certain amount of triethanolamine to obtain a pH of 5.5 to ensure homogenous distribution and dissolution of the polymer.…”