DEVELOPMENT OF HERBAL BIOACTIVE LOADED NANOPARTICLES FOR TOPICAL APPLICATION IN VITILIGO

Vitiligo is characterised by the appearance of white lesions on the skin, which are mainly caused by depigmentation of the skin due to the destruction of selective melanocytes. Ammi visnaga L. is a plant that grows widely in Mediterranean climate regions and khellin is one of its major components. Khellin stimulates the migration and proliferation of melanocytes in hair follicles. Both oral and dermal use of khellin is available, but some systemic side effects such as nausea and hepatotoxicity can be accompanied by oral administration. In the case of dermal application, poor skin penetration of khellin related to its lipophilicity needs to be overcome. In this study, khellin loaded cellulose acetate phthalate nanoparticles were developed to be used in the topical treatment of vitiligo by using Taguchi Orthogonal Array Design in the preliminary formulation studies. The characterization studies were carried out by determination of the size, zeta potential and encapsulation efficiency of nanoparticles and in vitro drug release and ex vivo penetration studies were carried out to evaluate their performance. The optimum nanoparticle formulation was found as an average size of 217.8 nm, PDI value of 0.11, zeta potential of -18.4 mV and encapsulation efficiency of 34.2%. Khellin loaded nanoparticles released 75% of khellin during 24 hours in a controlled manner. In addition, incorporation of khellin nanoparticles into HPMC gel increased the amount of khellin accumulated in the deep layers of the skin.