The Emerging Role of Ionic Liquid-Based Approaches for Enhanced Skin Permeation of Bioactive Molecules: A Snapshot of the Past Couple of Years

Abstract

Topical and transdermal delivery systems are of undeniable significance and ubiquity in healthcare, to facilitate the delivery of active pharmaceutical ingredients, respectively, onto or across the skin to enter systemic circulation. From ancient ointments and potions to modern micro/nanotechnological devices, a variety of approaches has been explored over the ages to improve the skin permeation of diverse medicines and cosmetics. Amongst the latest investigational dermal permeation enhancers, ionic liquids have been gaining momentum, and recent years have been prolific in this regard. As such, this review offers an outline of current methods for enhancing percutaneous permeation, highlighting selected reports where ionic liquid-based approaches have been investigated for this purpose. Future perspectives on use of ionic liquids for topical delivery of bioactive peptides are also presented.

Boosting Cosmeceutical Peptides: Coupling Imidazolium-Based Ionic Liquids to Pentapeptide-4 Originates New Leads with Antimicrobial and Collagenesis-Inducing Activities

“…Recently, alkylimidazolium-based IL have been proposed as an alternative antibacterial treatment for cSSTI focusing on Gram-positive pathogens ( 21 ). In addition, several IL or alkylimidazolium-derived IL have been found to improve the skin permeation of drugs ( 22 – 24 ), including ceftazidime, an antibiotic possessing poor water solubility and low skin permeation ( 25 ).…”

Natural products in cosmetics

“…The skin is the largest organ in our body and the first barrier to the invasion of microorganisms. It protects our body from external invasions while maintaining thermal adjustment and transmitting the sense of touch [ 9 ]. Increased skin pigmentation occurs secondary to various factors, including age, endocrine disorders, hormone levels, inflammation, and environmental exposures, including dermatologic conditions caused by ultraviolet (UV) and infrared radiation.…”

“…Nanoemulsions (NEs) allow drug-containing droplets to be dispersed in a very high interfacial region. Their role in promoting the transdermal absorption of hydrophilic (oil-in-water NEs) or lipophilic (water-in-oil NEs) constituents has been demonstrated [ 9 ]. Nanoemulsions currently in use or being studied have different constituents and complexities based on different amphiphiles, ranging from natural lipids to synthetic surfactants and combinations of them [ 277 , 278 ].…”

Bioactive Antimicrobial Peptides as Therapeutic Agents for Infected Diabetic Foot Ulcers

“…Among the main chemical modifications that have been investigated and have shown specific advantages to improve specific AMP characteristics are: lipidation (covalent binding of a lipid group to a peptide); glycosylation (covalent attachment of a glycan, or also termed carbohydrate, to a peptide); guanidination (conversion of some or all of the lysine residues to homoarginine residues); hydrazidation (binding of a hydrazide to a peptide); and small molecule conjugation (incorporation of a small molecule in AMPs, such as antibiotics, ionic liquids, or even small peptides, among others) [ 64 , 65 ]. Lipidation and glycosylation have mainly been explored as chemical modifications for solubility and activity improvement and stability enhancement against protease degradation, whereas the other chemical modifications have also been applied for antimicrobial activity enhancement [ 64 , 65 ]. Gomes et al have synthesized 3.1-PP4, a 16-amino acid peptide, by developing hybrid peptide constructs combining the wide spectrum antimicrobial peptide 3.1 and the collagen-inducing peptide PP4, one important example of small molecule conjugation of two peptides [ 66 ].…”