Niosome-encapsulated Doxycycline Hyclate for Potentiation of Acne Therapy: Formulation and Characterization

Acne is the pilosebaceous units' disorder. The most important cause of acne is the colonization of bacteria in the follicles. Among antibiotics, doxycycline hyclate kills a wide range of bacteria.

The study aims to prevent oral administration's side effects, overcome the barriers of conventional topical treatment, and improve the therapeutic effectiveness; this drug was loaded into niosomal nanocarriers for topical application.

Doxycycline hyclate was loaded into four niosomal formulations prepared by the thinfilm hydration method with different percentages of constituents. Drug-containing niosomal systems were evaluated for morphological properties via scanning electron microscopy, particle size, drug entrapment efficiency, zeta potential, in vitro drug release, physical stability after 60 days, in vitro drug permeation through rat skin, in vitro drug deposition in rat skin, toxicity on human dermal fibroblasts (HDF) by MTT method after 72 hours, and antibacterial properties against the main acne-causing bacteria via antibiogram test.

The best formulation had the appropriate particle size of 362.88 ± 13.05 nm to target follicles, entrapment efficiency of 56.3 ± 2.1%, the zeta potential of - 24.46±1.39 mV, in vitro drug release of 54.93 ± 1.99% after 32 hours, and the lowest permeation of the drug through the rat skin among all other formulations. Improved cell viability, increased antibacterial activity, and an approximately three-fold increase in drug deposition were the optimal niosomal formulation features relative to the free drug.

This study demonstrated the ability of nano-niosomes containing doxycycline hyclate to treat skin acne compared with the free drug.