Abstract
The objective of the present study was to prepare valencene (sesquiterpene) containing invasomes for itraconazole (ITZ) transungual delivery using central composite design. The phospholipid (
) and valencene (
) were selected as an independent variables, while vesicles size (
), entrapment efficiency (
) and in vitro drug release (
) were chosen as dependent variables. The antifungal activity of optimized formulation was screened against
, a common causative onychomycosis pathogen, by cup plate method. The optimized ITZ-loaded invasomes formulation presented vesicles size of 176.8 ± 6.03 nm, entrapment efficiency of 83.21 ± 4.11% and in vitro drug release of 75.22 ± 5.03%. The ITZ-loaded invasomes gel formulation showed good homogeneity, pH 6.5
0.23, viscosity 7.33
0.67 Pa s and drug content 94.13 ± 1.13%. The spreadability and extrudability of developed ITZ-loaded invasomes gel were found to be 7.85 ± 0.24 gcm/s and 162 ± 2.74 g, respectively. The ITZ-loaded invasomes gel presented 71.11 ± 3.65% cumulative permeation of drug via goat hooves. The in vitro antifungal activity depicted that the ITZ-loaded invasomes gel and marketed preparation were presented zone of inhibition of 21.42 mm and 10.64 mm against
respectively. Hence the prepared ITZ-loaded invasomes formulation could therefore be a promising topical dosage to mitigate the indications and hasten the cure for onychomycosis than conventional available therapies.