High-efficient nano-carrier gel systems for testosterone propionate skin delivery

The purpose of the current investigation was to evaluate the skin delivery potential of the different nano-carrier gels including liposomal gel, ethosomal gel and microemulsion gel bearing testosterone propionate (TP) as a testosterone deficient therapy. The prepared nanoparticles were characterized for their shape, particle size distribution and zeta potential. In vitro skin permeation and in vivo transdermal delivery of nano-carrier gels were studied with the Franz diffusion cells and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). The results showed that all of nano-particles were almost spherical with low polydispersity and nano-metric size range from 40 to 200 nm. TP ethosomal gel also provided an enhanced transdermal flux of 7.64 +/- 1.4 mu g/cm(2)/h and a decreased lag time of 0.69 h across rat skin as compared with the other two formulations. The skin penetration efficiency of TP nano-carrier gels also revealed that TP ethosomal gel would enhanced penetration of rhodamine red (RR)-loaded formulation to the deeper layers of the skin (268 mu m) than the liposomal gel (192 mu m) and microemulsion gel (228 mu m). This study demonstrated TP ethosomal gel is a promising nano-carrier for delivering TP through the skin.