Ricerc@Sapienza

In the present work, the preparation, characterization and therapeutic potential of baicalin-loaded nanohydrogels are reported. The nanohydrogels were prepared by sonicating (S nanohydrogel) or autoclaving (A nanohydrogel) a dispersion of cholesterol-derivatized gellan in phosphate buffer. The nanohydrogel obtained by
autoclave treatment showed the most promising results: smaller particles (∼362 nm vs. ∼530 nm), higher
homogeneity (polydispersity index = ∼0.24 vs. ∼0.47), and lower viscosity than those obtained by sonication.

The feasibility to use gellan nanohydrogels (Ge-NHs) as delivery system for the cutaneous administration of piroxicam (PRX) was investigated using gellan conjugated with cholesterol or riboflavin. The in vitro skin penetration studies through human epidermis were performed using a saturated aqueous drug solution, a 50% w/v Transcutol aqueous solution, and a commercially available PRX plaster as controls. Confocal microscopy, ATR-FTIR spectroscopy, circular dichroism, and a dynamometer assisted extrusion assay were performed to clarify the permeation mechanism of Ge-NHs.

Gellan nanohydrogel and phospholipid vesicles were combined to incorporate baicalin in new self-assembling core-shell gellantransfersomes obtained by an easy, scalable method. The vesicles were small in size (similar to 107 nm) and monodispersed (P.I.