Drug Delivery to the Hair Follicle: Role of Follicular Tight Junctions as a Biological Barrier and the Potential for Targeting Clobetasol Nanocarriers
January 2015
in “
SciDok (Saarland University and State Library)
”
TLDR Clobetasol nanocarriers can be effectively delivered to hair follicles, with uptake improved by massage and affected by particle type.
The study confirmed the porcine ear skin model's suitability for human follicular uptake studies of nanoparticle-based drug delivery systems, focusing on clobetasol nanocarriers. It demonstrated the chemical composition and localization of follicular tight junction proteins in hair follicles using confocal Raman microscopy, qPCR, and immunostaining. The research showed that follicular tight junctions acted as a barrier to xenobiotics, which could be modified using EDTA. The study evaluated three different nanocarriers for clobetasol, finding that while they had similar drug-release profiles and reduced skin permeation compared to dissolved drugs, follicular uptake was dependent on the particle type and was enhanced by massage.