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Novel nanoemulsion gel containing triple natural bio-actives combination of curcumin, thymoquinone, and resveratrol improves psoriasis therapy: in vitro and in vivo studies

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Abstract

Curcumin, resveratrol, and thymoquinone are the potential natural bio-actives reported with good anti-psoriatic activity. However, poor aqueous solubility and limited skin permeation of these natural bio-actives hinder their effective delivery and potential therapeutic outcome. In this regard, current research work focuses on the design and optimization of nanoemulsion (NE) gel formulation for the concurrent delivery of these three drugs. The NE system is consisting of oleic acid as oil phase, Tween 20 as surfactant, and PEG 200 as co-surfactant. The optimized formulation exhibited the droplet size 76.20 ± 1.67 nm, PDI of 0.12 ± 0.05, RI of 1.403 ± 0.007, and viscosity of 137.9 ± 4.07 mp. Carbopol 940 (0.5% w/v) was used as the gelling agent to prepare the NE gel which exhibited a good texture profile. The optimized formulation exhibited a higher % of growth inhibition on A-431 cells and demonstrated good anti-angiogenic activity in the HET-CAM test. Finally, in vivo studies in Balb/c mice model showed improved anti-psoriatic conditions which indicated that the triple natural bio-actives combination in nanoemulgel formulation is effective in the management of psoriasis.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Indian council of medical research (ICMR), New Delhi, India, (Grant No. 45/48/2018–NAN-BMS) for providing research fellowship and the electron microscope facility of SAIF, AIIMS, New Delhi, India, is duly acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nanomedicine Research Lab, Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, 110062, India

    Karishma Khatoon, Asgar Ali, Fahan J. Ahmad, Sohail Akhter & Sarwar Beg

  2. Department of Biosciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India

    Zubair Hafeez & M. Moshahid A. Rizvi

  3. Centre de Biophysique Moléculaire, CNRS UPR4301, Rue Charles Sadron, 45071, Orléans, Cedex 2, France

    Sohail Akhter

  4. LE STUDIUM® Loire Valley Institute for Advanced Studies, Orléans, Centre-Val de Loire Region, France

    Sohail Akhter

  5. Yousef Abdullatif Jameel Chair of Prophetic Medical Applications (YAJCPMA), Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

    Sohail Akhter

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  1. Karishma Khatoon
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  2. Asgar Ali
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  3. Fahan J. Ahmad
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Correspondence to Asgar Ali.

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The protocol for in vivo animal studies comes under (“In vivo studies” section) was approved by the Institutional Animal Ethics Committee, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, India, (registration no. 173/GO/Re/S/2000/CPCSEA).

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Khatoon, K., Ali, A., Ahmad, F.J. et al. Novel nanoemulsion gel containing triple natural bio-actives combination of curcumin, thymoquinone, and resveratrol improves psoriasis therapy: in vitro and in vivo studies. Drug Deliv. and Transl. Res. 11, 1245–1260 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13346-020-00852-y

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