Quality by Design Assisted Development of Luliconazole Transethosomes in Gel for the Management of Candida albicans Infection

The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate a novel vesicular formulation of luliconazole (LUL) for the management of Candida albicans infection through a topical route. LUL-loaded transethosomes (LUL-TE) were prepared by the film hydration method and various independent and dependent variables were optimized using the Box-Behnken design. Selected critical material attributes were the content of phospholipids (X1), concentration of ethanol (X2), and amount of sodium cholate (X3). Formulated LUL-TE were characterized for percent entrapment efficiency, percent drug loading, vesicle size, and polydispersity index (PDI) and were incorporated into the carbomer gel base and further evaluated for gel characterizations. The prepared transethosomal gel (LUL-TE-CHG) was evaluated for pH, spreadability, viscosity, antifungal activity, and in vitro study. From the observed results, it was evident that the prepared LUL-TE-CHG was in the desired pH (6.2 +/- 0.45), spreadability [8.3 +/- 0.42 g/(cm<middle dot>s)], viscosity (236.1-19.2.26 mPa<middle dot>s), nanovesicle size (252 +/- 9.82), entrapment efficiency (85% +/- 5.24%), zeta potential (-34.05 +/- 3.52 mV), and PDI (0.233 +/- 0.002). The zone of inhibition results suggested that the LUL-TE-CHG formulation has the highest antifungal activity, that is, 5.83 +/- 0.15 mm(3). The in vitro results showed that drug release within 2 h was 18.1% +/- 2.0% and after that sustained release action, 83.2% +/- 1.7% within 8 h. Finally, to confirm the therapeutic efficacy of the developed formulation, fungal infection was induced by using C. albicans in Wistar rats. In vivo, skin irritation study and histopathology studies were performed in the disease-induced model. Animal experiments revealed that LUL-TE-CHG has significantly improved the diseased condition in Wistar rats. The results observed from the skin permeation and skin deposition profile ensure that the prepared novel LUL-loaded TE system had a higher permeation rate and increased retention time compared with LUL-CHG. The hydrogel incorporated with LUL could be a novel approach with safe and effective fungal treatment.