Functionalized chitosan nanoparticles for cutaneous delivery of a skin whitening agent: an approach to clinically augment the therapeutic efficacy for melasma treatment
Shymaa Hatem, Seham A. Elkheshen, Amany O. Kamel, Maha Nasr, Noha H. Moftah, Maha H. Ragai, Reham S. Elezaby, Nada M. El Hoffy
Abstract
deposition of CSNPs proved their superiority in accumulating the drug in deep skin layers with no transdermal delivery. DSC and FTIR studies revealed the successful amorphization of α-arbutin into the nanoparticulate system with no interaction between the drug and the carrier system. The comparative split-face clinical study revealed that α-arbutin loaded CSNPs hydrogels showed better therapeutic efficacy compared to the free drug hydrogel in melasma patients, as displayed by the decrease in: modified melasma area and severity index (mMASI) scores, epidermal melanin particle size surface area (MPSA) and the number of epidermal monoclonal mouse anti-melanoma antigen recognized by T cells-1 (MART-1) positive cells which proved that the aforementioned system is a promising modality for melasma treatment.