Solid Lipid Nanoparticles Loading Idebenone Ester with Pyroglutamic Acid: In Vitro Antioxidant Activity and In Vivo Topical Efficacy

Lucia Montenegro; Anna Maria Panico; Ludovica Maria Santagati; Edy Angela Siciliano; Sebastiano Intagliata; Maria N Modica

doi:10.3390/nano9010043

Solid Lipid Nanoparticles Loading Idebenone Ester with Pyroglutamic Acid: In Vitro Antioxidant Activity and In Vivo Topical Efficacy

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2018 Dec 29;9(1):43. doi: 10.3390/nano9010043.

Authors

Lucia Montenegro¹, Anna Maria Panico², Ludovica Maria Santagati³, Edy Angela Siciliano⁴, Sebastiano Intagliata^{5

6}, Maria N Modica⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Drug Sciences, University of Catania, 95125 Catania, Italy. lmontene@unict.it.
² Department of Drug Sciences, University of Catania, 95125 Catania, Italy. panico@unict.it.
³ Department of Drug Sciences, University of Catania, 95125 Catania, Italy. ludovica.santagati@icloud.com.
⁴ Department of Drug Sciences, University of Catania, 95125 Catania, Italy. edysiciliano@hotmail.it.
⁵ Department of Drug Sciences, University of Catania, 95125 Catania, Italy. s.intagliata@cop.ufl.edu.
⁶ Department of Medicinal Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA. s.intagliata@cop.ufl.edu.
⁷ Department of Drug Sciences, University of Catania, 95125 Catania, Italy. mmodica@unict.it.

Abstract

Idebenone (IDE), a strong antioxidant widely investigated for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases and skin disorders, shows low oral and topical bioavailability due to its unfavorable physico-chemical properties. In this work, to improve IDE topical effectiveness, we explored a two-steps approach: (1) we synthesized an IDE ester (IDEPCA) with pyroglutamic acid, a molecule whose hydrating effects are well known; (2) we loaded IDEPCA into solid lipid nanocarriers (SLN). We evaluated in vitro antioxidant and anti-glycation activity and in vivo hydrating effects after topical application in human volunteers from gel vehicles of IDEPCA SLN in comparison to IDE SLN. All SLN showed good technological properties (mean particle size < 25 nm, polydispersity index < 0.300, good stability). The oxygen radical absorbance capacity assay showed that IDEPCA SLN and IDE SLN had similar antioxidant activity while IDEPCA SLN were more effective in the in vitro NO scavenging assay. Both IDEPCA and IDE SLN showed the same effectiveness in inhibiting the formation of advanced glycation end products. In vivo experiments pointed out a better hydrating effect of IDEPCA SLN in comparison to IDE SLN. These results suggest that the investigated approach could be a promising strategy to obtain topical formulations with increased hydrating effects.

Keywords: ORAC assay; anti-glycation activity; antioxidant activity; idebenone; idebenone derivative; nanocarriers; pyroglutamic acid; skin hydration; solid lipid nanoparticles.