Novel nail penetration enhancer containing vesicles “nPEVs” for treatment of onychomycosis

Figures & data

Table1. Composition of the prepared nPEVs.

Formula code*	Type of nail penetration enhancer	Concentration of nail penetration enhancer**	Ethanol percentage*** (%v/v)
N1	N-acetyl-l-cysteine	2%	0%
N2			20%
N3			40%
N4		5%	0%
N5			20%
N6			40%
N7	Thioglycolic acid	2%	0%
N8			20%
N9			40%
N10		5%	0%
N11			20%
N12			40%
N13	Thiourea	2%	0%
N14			20%
N15			40%
N16		5%	0%
N17			20%
N18			40%

*All formulae contained 400 mg phosphatidylcholine, 200 mg transcutol, 20 mg stearylamine and 100 mg sertaconazole. The volume of hydration medium is 5 ml.

**Calculated as % w/v (in case of N- acetyl-l-cysteine and thiourea) or % v/v (in case of thioglycolic acid) of the hydration medium.

***Calculated as a percentage of the hydration medium total volume.

Table 2. Characterization of sertaconazole nPEVs prepared using N-acetyl-l-cysteine as nail penetration enhancer.

Formula code	EE%	Particle size (nm)	Polydispersity index (PDI)	Zeta potential (mv)	Deformability index (ml/s)	Viscosity (cp)
N1	95.2 ± 0.9	48.1 ± 0.5	0.33 ± 0.01	+51 ± 0.3	ND	1.66 ± 0.15
N2	88.7 ± 3.5	38.6 ± 0.8	0.27 ± 0.00	+48.8 ± 5.6	ND	1.4 ± 0.2
N3	91.9 ± 0.5	538 ± 3.8	0.38 ± 0.01	+68.6 ± 1.1	0.91 ± 0.1	196 ± 65
N4	92 ± 7.1	66.5 ± 1.4	0.29 ± 0.03	+64.3 ± 4.9	1.61 ± 0.2	1.31 ± 0.0
N5	77.3 ± 1.1	38.3 ± 0.9	0.3 ± 0.03	+72.2 ± 0.1	ND	8.28 ± 0.54
N6	90.4 ± 2.7	497 ± 10.4	0.46 ± 0.04	+72.5 ± 2.6	0.98 ± 0.4	277 ± 92

ND: not determined.

Figure 1. (a) Negative stain transmission electron micrograph of formula N4 at a magnification of 80 000× showing the outline and core of spherical vesicular structures. (b) Negative stain transmission electron micrograph of formula N4 at a magnification of 150 000×, showing a perfect spherical structure of nPEV vesicle.

Figure 2. Microbiological activity of the selected nPEVs formula N4, the marketed Dermofix® cream and the blank N4 against Tricophyton rubrum using agar diffusion technique.