Formation of alginate gel stabilized silica nanoparticles for encapsulation and topical delivery of minoxidil

Syed Salman Shafqat; Breia Ammen; Syeda Amna Masood; Asma Mukhtar; Muhammad Faizan Nazar; Muhammad Asim Khan; Abdulrahman A Almehizia; Muhammad Yasir Siddique; Maria Nosheen; Muhammad Nadeem Zafar

doi:10.1016/j.colsurfb.2024.114432

Formation of alginate gel stabilized silica nanoparticles for encapsulation and topical delivery of minoxidil

Colloids Surf B Biointerfaces. 2024 Dec 5:247:114432. doi: 10.1016/j.colsurfb.2024.114432. Online ahead of print.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Division of Science and Technology, University of Education, Lahore 54770, Pakistan. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Department of Chemistry, Division of Science and Technology, University of Education, Lahore 54770, Pakistan.
³ Department of Pharmaceutics, College of Pharmacy, University of Sargodha, Sargodha 40100, Pakistan.
⁴ School of Chemistry, University of the Punjab, Lahore 54590, Pakistan.
⁵ Department of Chemistry, Division of Science and Technology, University of Education, Lahore 54770, Pakistan; Department of Chemistry, University of Education, Lahore, Multan Campus, Multan, Pakistan.
⁶ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Linyi University, Linyi 276000, PR China.
⁷ Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2457, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
⁸ Department of Chemistry, University of Gujrat, Gujrat 50700, Pakistan.
⁹ Department of Chemistry, University of Gujrat, Gujrat 50700, Pakistan; State Key Laboratory of Electroanalytical Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 5625 Renmin Street, Changchun 130022, PR China. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 39689592
DOI: 10.1016/j.colsurfb.2024.114432

Abstract

Silica nanoparticles-embedded smart-gels are efficient drug carrier systems due to their structural flexibility, high porosity, and ease of formulation development. Herein, the extent of interaction of minoxidil (MXD), a potent vasodilator prodrug, with silica nanoparticles (SiNPs) and alginate (ALG) was investigated. The SiNPs were prepared by extracting silica from rice husk ash, and these SiNPs were further used to prepare MXD-loaded-SiNPs (MXD-SiNPs) by loading them with an appropriate amount of MXD. The as-prepared MXD-SiNPs were encapsulated in ALG polymer by freeze-gelation method and evaluated by various characterization techniques. The amorphous nature of the SiNPs was confirmed by XRD examination, while the nature of physical interaction and encapsulation of the drug in the SiNPs and ALG gel was examined by FTIR analysis. TEM analysis revealed that the MXD-SiNPs had a monodisperse collection of spherical nanoparticles, while the particle size (∼150 nm) of as-prepared formulation was determined from DLS studies. The drug entrapment efficiency was 86 % and the loading efficiency was 22 %. The as-developed MXD-SiNPs@ALG gel formulation exhibited sustained release over 12 h compared to pure MXD and MXD-SiNPs. These results suggest that the newly developed formulation has several advantageous properties that make it suitable for cutaneous administration of the drug.

Keywords: Alginate; Alopecia; Minoxidil; Silica nanoparticles; Skin permeation.