Hyaluronic acid incorporation into nanoemulsions containing Pterodon pubescens Benth. Fruit oil for topical drug delivery

Abstract

Abstract There is growing interest in the use of topical delivery systems that can modify the permeation of drugs through the skin. Transdermal carriers containing hyaluronic acid have been investigated, and results indicate that nanoemulsions containing hyaluronic acid can be used successfully in delivery systems of lipophilic drugs. Pterodon pubescens oil be widely used due to its anti-inflammatory, antirheumatic, leishmanicidal, and antiproliferative activities. In this study, the effect of the incorporation of hyaluronic acid on the physicochemical properties and physical stability of topical nanostructured systems containing P.pubescens fruit oil was investigated. Nanoemulsions were prepared using an Ultra-Turrax homogenizer. The droplet diameter varied from 16.33 ± 0.30 to 26.63 ± 0.21 nm. The zeta potential for nanoemulsions with hyaluronic acid indicated good physical stability. The thermogravimetric and differential scanning calorimetry analyses showed that the nanoemulsions were able to protect the vegetable oil from thermal degradation. The nanoemulsions containing hyaluronic acid presented a pseudoplastic flow behavior, and a lower instability index than the formulations without hyaluronic acid in accelerated physical stability study. In conclusion, the incorporation of hyaluronic acid altered the physical characteristics of the evaluated systems, providing favorable properties for the use of these nanoemulsions as topical carriers.