Nanodesign of new self-assembling core-shell gellan-transfersomes loading baicalin and in vivo evaluation of repair response in skin

Manconi, Maria;Manca, Maria Letizia;Caddeo, Carla;Valenti, Donatella;Cencetti, Claudia;Diez-Sales, Octavio;Nacher, Amparo;Mir-Palomo, Silvia;Terencio, Maria Carmen;Demurtas, Davide;Gomez-Fernandez, Juan Carmelo;Aranda, Francisco José;Fadda, Anna Maria;Matricardi, Pietro

2018-01-01

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Abstract

Gellan nanohydrogel and phospholipid vesicles were combined to incorporate baicalin in new self-assembling core-shell gellan-transfersomes obtained by an easy, scalable method. The vesicles were small in size (~107 nm) and monodispersed (P.I. ≤ 0.24), forming a viscous system (~24 mPa/s) as compared to transfersomes (~1.6 mPa/s), as confirmed by rheological studies. Gellan was anchored to the bilayer domains through cholesterol, and the polymer chains were distributed onto the outer surface of the bilayer, thus forming a core-shell structure, as suggested by SAXS analyses. The optimal carrier ability of core-shell gellan-transfersomes was established by the high deposition of baicalin in the skin (~11% in the whole skin), especially in the deeper tissue (~8% in the dermis). Moreover, their ability to improve baicalin efficacy in anti-inflammatory and skin repair tests was confirmed in vivo in mice, providing the complete skin restoration and inhibiting all the studied inflammatory markers.