Innovative nanocompounds for cutaneous administration of classical antifungal drugs: a systematic review

Abstract

Nanomedicine manipulates materials at atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale, with at least one dimension within the nanometer range, for biomedical applications. The resulting nanoparticles have been consistently shown beneficial effects for antifungal drugs delivery, overcoming the problems of low bioavailability and high toxicity of these drugs. Due to their unique features, namely the small mean particle size, nanoparticles contribute to the enhanced drug absorption and uptake by the target cells, potentiating the therapeutic drug effect. The topical route is desirable due to the adverse effects arising from oral administration. This review provides a comprehensive analysis of the use of nano compounds for the current treatment of topical fungal infections. A special emphasis is given to the employment of lipid nanoparticles, due to their recognized efficacy, versatility, and biocompatibility, attracting the major attention as novel topical nanocompounds used for the administration of antifungal drugs.

Keywords:

• Nanomedicine
• antifungal drugs
• fungal infections
• cutaneous drug delivery
• skin

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the FAPESP (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo) under grant number #2011/20801-2, #2008/00421-8, by the CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico) under grant number #443238/2014-6, by the MCTI/CNPQ/Universal under grant number #470388/2014-5, by the CNPq/MS/SCTIE/DECIT and FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal under grant number SFRH/BD/109261/2015, by the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (FCT/MCT) and from European Funds (PRODER/COMPETE) under grant number UID/QUI/50006/2013, and by the FEDER, under the Partnership Agreement PT2020.