Angiogenesis and collagen promoting nutraceutical-loaded nanovesicles for wound healing

Recently, nutraceuticals have gained widespread recognition in treating dermatological diseases owing to their remarkable pharmacological effects. The current study describes the formulation of the nutraceutical oryzanol in flexible nanovesicles; penetration enhancer containing vesicles (PEVs), to overcome its extreme water insolubility and enhance its deposition into different skin layers for wound healing. Two penetration enhancers were used (Transcutol and Labrasol), aided by a co-penetration enhancer (Bisabolol) which itself is an anti-inflammatory oil added to augment the wound healing properties of oryzanol. Results showed that labrasol PEVs exhibited appropriate size (296 nm), zeta potential ≈ −31 mV, and high stability indicated by insignificant changes in vesicle size and zeta potential after storage. The selected formulation co-loaded with oryzanol and bisabolol showed superior wound healing properties with early signs of neo-angiogenesis and collagen production in comparison to other groups treated with PEVs loaded with oryzanol only or a marketed product for wound healing. This could be ascribed to the high skin deposition of oryzanol in the different layers of the skin reaching ≈60 μg/cm2. This delineates oryzanol/bisabolol co-loaded PEVs as a promising system for wound healing, and provides further proof of efficacy for nutraceuticals as therapeutic molecules. © 2020 Elsevier B.V.