Formulation Development and Characterization of Acitretin Proniosomal gel: In-vivo Exploration against Imiquimod-induced Psoriasis in Experimental Animals

Abstract

he main purpose of this study was to prepare and evaluate acitretin proniosomal gel (APG) and find out if the antipsoriatic formulation could prevent Imiquimod (IMQ) induced psoriasis in experimental animals. APG was developed and by coacervation phase separation method. Cholesterol and soya lecithin was used as membrane modifiers and tween 80 and span 60 as non-ionic surfactants. Characterization of the prepared proniosomal gel revealed that the optimized batch APG3 presented excellent formulation characteristics like the viscosity of 9710 ± 1.24 cps, rate of spontaneity as 13 ± 0.86, %entrapment efficiency of 94.91 ± 0.51, average hydrodynamic diameter of niosomes as 345.7 nm, polydispersibility index as 0.159 and ZP of -2.3 mV. In-vivo animal study of the optimized batch APG3 was performed along with biochemical estimations of oxidative parameters as glutathione (GSH), superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA) and catalase; also, TNF-α, IL-6 were estimated using ELISA sandwiched. Histopathological estimation along with psoriasis area severity index (PASI) scores in the IMQ-induced psoriatic model presented a significant fall in the scoring after treatment with APG3 compared with a psoriatic group. Primary dermal irritation scoring was also evaluated on Sprague Dawley rats. The results presented a considerable decline in skin irritation score compared with a psoriatic group. Also, the levels of GSH, SOD and catalase were increased in APG3 treated group as compared with a psoriatic group. While MDA level is decreased after topical treatment with APG3 compared with a psoriatic group. In conclusion, the optimized APG3 showed promising pharmacological effects in the treatment of psoriasis.