Comparison of the Release rate, Penetration and Physical stability of p-Methoxycinamic acid (PMCA) in Nanostructured Lipid Carriers (NLC), Solid Lipid Nanoparticle (SLN) and Nanoemulsion (NE) systems

Objective: The p-methoxycinnamic acid (PMCA) was known has antiinflamatory effect which is difficult to dissolve in water, to increase the penetration to the skin it’s was loaded in the nanostructured lipid carrier (NLC) delivery system used the combination of beeswax-cacao oleum and virgin coconut oil (VCO), compared with solid lipid nanoparticle (SLN) and nanoemulsion (NE) delivery systems. Material and Method: PMCA concentrations of 1% in each system were prepared by the high shear homogenization method, namely NLC-PMCA and SLN-PMCA; and was prepared by emulsification method namely NE-PMCA. Then all systems are characterized and tested for release rate, penetration into the rat skin, also were tested for physical stability. The results of this research: All systems have a pH value in the range of 4.2-4.5 which falls into the skin's pH range (4-6.5). The viscosity of the NLC-PMCA, SLN-PMCA and NE-PMCA systems are 30.03±6.29; 93.77± 6.11 and 3.43±0.16 cPs, respectively. The particle size of NLC-PMCA, SLN-PMCA and NE-PMCA are 423.6± 33.6; 830.7±71.3 and 57.1±1.6nm, respectively. The release rate of PMCA in the NLC-PMCA, SLN-PMCA and NE-PMCA system are 0.2210±0.0089; 0.1972±0.0145 and 0.4690±0.0228µg/cm²/minute, respectively. The depth of PMCA penetration in the NLC-PMCA, SLN-PMCA and NE-PMCA system at 30 minutes after application are 1173.0±37.8; 703.3±117.2; 1414.3±106.4µm, respectively and at 2 hours after application are 1268.8±111.9; 945.6±140.4; 1832.5±92.8μm, respectively. The NLC-PMCA has no physical changes in 14 days’ storage, whereas the SLN-PMCA consistency becomes thicker and the NE-PMCA becomes turbid. Conclusion: NLC-PMCA has better release rate and deeper penetration than SLN-PMCA, even though it is lower and shallower than NE-PMCA, but NLC-PMCA has better physical stability than SLN-PMCA and NE-PMCA.