Skin Targeting of an Optimized Caffeine Nanostructured Lipid Carrier with Improved Efficiency Against Chemotherapy-Induced Alopecia

The study aimed to develop and optimize caffeine-loaded nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) for topical treatment of alopecia. The solubility of caffeine in stearic acid and glyceryl monostearate was found to be 47.11±3.048 and 32.67±2.955 mg/g, respectively. The optimized formula showed a particle size of 358 nm±1.45, entrapment efficiency of 72.55 %±0.12, polydispersity index of 0.912±0.030, and zeta potential of -24.8 mv±0.70. The release of the drug was 92.9±4.9 % after 2 hours. Confocal laser scanning microscopy showed improved permeation of caffeine-loaded NLCs to all skin layers. The histological examination confirmed the effectiveness of the optimized caffeine NLCs formula in promoting hair growth compared to the market formula.