Sustainable Release of Propranolol Hydrochloride Laden with Biconjugated-Ufasomes Chitosan Hydrogel Attenuates Cisplatin-Induced Sciatic Nerve Damage in In Vitro/In Vivo Evaluation

Yasmin M Ahmed; Raha Orfali; Doaa S Hamad; Mostafa E Rateb; Hanan O Farouk

doi:10.3390/pharmaceutics14081536

Sustainable Release of Propranolol Hydrochloride Laden with Biconjugated-Ufasomes Chitosan Hydrogel Attenuates Cisplatin-Induced Sciatic Nerve Damage in In Vitro/In Vivo Evaluation

Pharmaceutics. 2022 Jul 23;14(8):1536. doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics14081536.

Authors

Yasmin M Ahmed¹, Raha Orfali², Doaa S Hamad³, Mostafa E Rateb⁴, Hanan O Farouk³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Nahda University, Beni-Suef 62521, Egypt.
² Department of Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2457, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
³ Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Nahda University, Beni-Suef 62521, Egypt.
⁴ School of Computing, Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of the West of Scotland, Paisley PA1 2BE, UK.

Abstract

Peripheral nerve injuries significantly impact patients' quality of life and poor functional recovery. Chitosan-ufasomes (CTS-UFAs) exhibit biomimetic features, making them a viable choice for developing novel transdermal delivery for neural repair. This study aimed to investigate the role of CTS-UFAs loaded with the propranolol HCl (PRO) as a model drug in enhancing sciatica in cisplatin-induced sciatic nerve damage in rats. Hence, PRO-UFAs were primed, embedding either span 20 or 60 together with oleic acid and cholesterol using a thin-film hydration process based on full factorial design (2⁴). The influence of formulation factors on UFAs' physicochemical characteristics and the optimum formulation selection were investigated using Design-Expert^® software. Based on the optimal UFA formulation, PRO-CTS-UFAs were constructed and characterized using transmission electron microscopy, stability studies, and ex vivo permeation. In vivo trials on rats with a sciatic nerve injury tested the efficacy of PRO-CTS-UFA and PRO-UFA transdermal hydrogels, PRO solution, compared to normal rats. Additionally, oxidative stress and specific apoptotic biomarkers were assessed, supported by a sciatic nerve histopathological study. PRO-UFAs and PRO-CTS-UFAs disclosed entrapment efficiency of 82.72 ± 2.33% and 85.32 ± 2.65%, a particle size of 317.22 ± 6.43 and 336.12 ± 4.9 nm, ζ potential of -62.06 ± 0.07 and 65.24 ± 0.10 mV, and accumulatively released 70.95 ± 8.14% and 64.03 ± 1.9% PRO within 6 h, respectively. Moreover, PRO-CTS-UFAs significantly restored sciatic nerve structure, inhibited the cisplatin-dependent increase in peripheral myelin 22 gene expression and MDA levels, and further re-established sciatic nerve GSH and CAT content. Furthermore, they elicited MBP re-expression, BCL-2 mild expression, and inhibited TNF-α expression. Briefly, our findings proposed that CTS-UFAs are promising to enhance PRO transdermal delivery to manage sciatic nerve damage.

Keywords: chitosan–ufasomes; cisplatin; propranolol HCl; sciatic nerve; surface modification.

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.