Abstract

TOPICAL SOLID LIPID NANOPARTICLES: AN APPROACH FOR ACNE TREATMENT

Kiran Kumari*, Rahul Awasthi and Shivali Singla

ABSTRACT

More than 95% of world population suffers from acne vulgaris atleast once in their lifetime. Acne is a multifactorial, inflammatory disease of pilosebaceous unit that affects the skin of face, neck, chest, upper back. This inflammatory disease initially appears during the onset of puberty and is most common in adolescents, but it appears in neonates, adults as well as pre-pubescent children. The androgenic stimulation in males and females triggers the secretion of sebum and follicular keratinization. The hyper proliferation of Propionibacterium acne, and inflammatory response initiated by bacterial antigens and cytokines are responsible for acne. Various topical medications are available in market that claims the treatment of acne but none of them actually treats the acne completely. Conventional topical systems of treatment have various side effects that have gained the attention of researchers to develop a novel drug delivery system that can be topically used for the treatment of acne. Topical route of drug delivery is always preferable over other routes of delivery especially in case of skin diseases as the drug is directed applied on the targeted site and can effectively treat the disease with high therapeutic efficacy, cost effectiveness and patient compliance. Several novel carrier based systems like liposomes, niosomes, lipospheres, microsponges and solid lipid nanoparticles have been investigated and found to be very effective for topical route as compared to conventional drug delivery systems. In this review, solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) have been reviewed for the advantages, disadvantages, preparation methods and applications in effective treatment of acne.

Keywords: Solid Lipid Nanoparticles (SLNs), topical drug delivery, acne vulgaris, carrier based system, biocompatible.