tretinoin & bicalutamide-loaded nanostructured lipid carriers: preparation, characterization, and follicular targeting assessment

Aim and background: acne vulgaris is prevalent in teenagers and young adults and can be accompanied by numerous psychological consequences. although in moderate to severe acne vulgaris, systemic therapy is more common, however, due to the prolonged duration of therapy and numerous unwanted adverse drug reactions, topical formulations especially those with hair follicular targeting potential would be beneficial. in this study, tretinoin (trt) and bicalutamide (bct)-loaded nanostructured lipid carriers (nlcs) were designed and fabricated for dual drug delivery to the hair follicles for acne vulgaris management. methods: during this study, trt and bct-loaded nlcs were fabricated using solvent diffusion evaporation technique. the prepared nlcs were characterized in terms of particles size, size distribution, morphology, zeta potential, and drug entrapment efficiencies and loading capacities. furthermore, in vivo follicular targeting was assessed for rhodamine b-loaded nlcs with the desired particle size using the animal model. results and discussion: the results revealed that the prepared nlcs were spherical in shape and had an average diameter of 155 nm, zeta potential of -20.3 mv, and entrapment efficiency of about 99.69% for both bct and trt. based on the results of in vivo experiment, this novel topical delivery system with an average diameter of 155 nm showed significant accumulation within the hair follicles and pilosebaceous units during fluorescent illumination microscopy. conclusion: therefore, the designed bct and trt-loaded nlcs co-delivery system would be promising in acne vulgaris management with hair follicular targeting potential.