Abstract
A liposomes-in-hydrogel system as an advanced wound dressing for dermal delivery of curcumin was proposed for improved chronic wound therapy. Curcumin, a multitargeting poorly soluble active substance with known beneficial properties for improved wound healing, was incorporated in deformable liposomes to overcome its poor solubility. Chitosan hydrogel served as a vehicle providing superior wound healing properties. The novel system should assure sustained skin delivery of curcumin, and increase its retention at the skin site, utilizing both curcumin and chitosan to improve the therapy outcome. To optimize the properties of the formulation and determine the effect of the liposomal charge on the hydrogel properties, curcumin-containing deformable liposomes (DLs) with neutral (NDLs), cationic (CDLs), and anionic (ADLs) surface properties were incorporated in chitosan hydrogel. The charged DLs affected the hydrogel’s hardness, cohesiveness, and adhesiveness. Importantly, the incorporation of DLs, regardless of their surface charge, in chitosan hydrogel did not decrease the system’s bioadhesion to human skin. Stability testing revealed that the incorporation of CDLs in hydrogel preserved hydrogel´s bioadhesiveness to a higher degree than both NDLs and ADLs. In addition, CDLs-in-hydrogel enabled the most sustained skin penetration of curcumin. The proposed formulation should be further evaluated in a chronic wound model.
Highlights
The treatment of chronic wounds is one of the most important global health care issues in the aging society
The bioadhesiveness of the dressing is one of the main factors determining the time curcumin is. Both deformable liposomes (DLs) and chitosan hydrogel have shown ability to assure retained at the skin site
To utilize the wound healing potential of both curcumin and chitosan, we developed a novel wound dressing comprising curcumin-in-liposomes-in-chitosan hydrogel
Summary
The treatment of chronic wounds is one of the most important global health care issues in the aging society. Chronic wounds are challenging to treat due to the diversity of factors contributing to slow/impaired healing. The hostile environment of the wound comprising degradative enzymes and elevated pH, as well as the complexity of physiological processes, requires an effective advanced drug delivery system as a wound dressing [1,2]. An ideal wound dressing should reduce infection, moisturize the wound, stimulate the healing mechanism, accelerate the wound closure, and reduce/control scar formation [3]. The incessant release of free radicals has been proposed as one of the key factors responsible for activation of the inflammatory system, leading to impaired repair of the wound [4]. The effective control of free radical levels in the wound and subsequent inflammation could assist in enhanced wound healing and scar control. Various antioxidants could be utilized to control free radicals during wound healing
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