Design, optimisation and pharmacodynamic evaluation of thymoquinone nanosponges for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis

The seeds of the Nigella sativa plant contain thymoquinone (TQ), a non-toxic agent with numerous uses in the treatment of human diseases. Since it is hydrophobic in nature, it has limited solubility and stability. The goal of the current study is to optimise the TQ loaded nanosponge (NS) gel by employing the fundamentals of design of experiments. Particle size and entrapment efficiency (EE%) were assessed using a hybrid design technique consisting of mini run resolution IV design and Box-Behnken design. The particle size and EE% of improved TQNS formulations were 254.1 +/- 0.23 nm and 80 +/- 0.2%, respectively. In comparison to TQ gel (20%) and diclofenac sodium (30%), TQ-NS gel demonstrated the highest reduction in paw volume at 24 hours. Compared to existing TQ formulations, optimised TQ-NS gel has a considerable potential to provide a greater and longer-lasting anti-inflammatory impact for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, and have promising future applications.