Impact of formulation design and lyophilisation on the physicochemical characteristics of finasteride nanosystems

Abstract

The fundamental purpose of this study was to develop a stable lyophilised finasteride nanosystem (FNS-NS) for topical delivery. The FNS-NS was fabricated using an ultrasonication technique. The impact of two different cryoprotectants on the physicochemical characteristics of FNS-NS before and after lyophilisation was thoroughly investigated. The lyophilised FNS-NS had spherical shape with particle size lied between 188.6 nm ± 4.4 and 298.7 nm ± 4.7, low PDI values (0.26 ± 0.02 to 0.32 ± 0.02) and zeta potential ranging from −38.3 to +53.3 mV. The confocal laser microscopy depicted a comparatively higher cellular internalisation achieved for undecorated FNS-NS with respect to its chitosan-decorated counterpart. The lyophilised FNS-NS was stable for 90 days at proper storage conditions. The FNS-NS with 15% trehalose had appropriate physicochemical attributes that could be a promising carrier for topical delivery to treat androgenic alopecia.

Keywords:

• Finasteride
• nanosystem
• chitosan
• cellular uptake
• lyophilisation

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr. Nadia MESSADDEQ, Dr. Jean-Luc WEICKERT, Dr. Nathalie Gruber and Dr. Kessler Pascal (Université de Strasbourg, France) for providing help with the TEM, SEM, XRD and cellular uptake data analysis.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

All data and materials are mentioned in the article.