A Novel Vesicular Lipid Carrier Systems to Enhance Acyclovir Delivery through Skin

Abstract

There has always been a growing need for novel drug delivery systems to deal with chemical drug entities that have poor solubility and permeability. A great deal of interest has been being focused on the utilization of lipid based drug delivery systems such as ethosomes to enhance the permeation of antiviral drugs through the skin. Ethosomes have been employed to improve the permeability of drugs through different mechanisms. Acyclovir can pass easily through the skin to reach deep dermis layer where the virus replicates thus, enhancing the overall effect of the drug. Ethosomes comprise of various types of phospholipid structures, water, and low molecular weight alcohol (ethanol or isopropyl alcohol) in high concentration that provide malleability to the vesicle membrane. Hence, ethosomes loaded of Acyclovir were prepared with a purpose of overcoming these drawbacks. Ethosomes loaded sustained release formulations of Acyclovir were prepared using the hot method technique. The proposed formulations of Acyclovir loaded ethosomes were characterized for their morphology, particle size, zeta potential and entrapment efficiency and in vitro release study. The morphology of ethosomes showed ideal particle size and appearance. The entrapment efficiency was between 94.95 % and 98.56%, and the particle size was found between 276.3 nanometers to 677.7 nanometers. The porous structure of ethosomes was confirmed by an optical microscope and a transmission electron microscope. It also showed the highest release profile with nearly 28% release after 8 hours. F1 exhibited a zeta potential score of -67.8 indicating good stability. F1 in-vitro permeation study showed a promising penetration enhancement.