Development and evaluation of nanocrystals loaded hydrogel for topical application

Our main aim in the present investigation, development and evaluation of the Niclosamide (NCL) based nanocrystals (NC) and hydrogel to provide effective anti-psoriatic activity. The prepared nanosuspension of NCL was stabilized by using poly-vinyl-pyrrolidone/vinyl acetate (PVP/VA) co-polymer with 1:1 ratio (drug/polymer-copolymer) to get stable nanocrystals, which were further modified using hyaluronic acid to provide CD-44 targeting. Central composite design of the experiment was applied in the study to screen out the various independent variables and their response surface graphs. The particle size and polydispersity index of the nanosuspension was measured 173.3 ± 10.2 nm and 0.221 ± 0.09. The solid-state characterization was performed using electron microscopy, Differential scanning calorimetry, powdered x-ray diffraction, and spectroscopic techniques of prepared nanocrystals. The NCL-hydrogel was shows the drug content 95.5% ± 0.12 to 96.5% ± 0.4 and delayed 8.25 ± 1.6% drug released in 12hr. The NCL-hydrogel was found stable at 25 ± 2 °C. The drug release pattern follows the Higuchi model with the highest regression coefficient (R2) and minimum Akaike Information Criteria value (AIC). Cytotoxicity assay in HaCaT cells showed an increase in inhibitory effect by all the formulations than coarse-NCL. The IC50 value NCL, F1 and F2 were found to be 1.25 μM (373 μg/ml), 0.017 μM (57 ng/ml) and 0.023 μM (74 ng/ml), respectively at 48hr using HaCaT cells.