Enhancement of Follicular Delivery of Finasteride in Niosomal and Proniosomal Gel Form for Treating Androgenetic Alopecia

May 2012 in “ Indian drugs ”

K. R Vimal, V. Sankar, CR Srinivas, Kumaresan M

finasteride androgenetic alopecia niosome proniosome cholesterol Span 20 dicetyl phosphate anagen hair count androgenic receptors Propecia

TLDR Finasteride, a hair loss treatment, works better and is more stable when delivered through specially prepared gels, leading to increased hair growth.

The aim of this study was to enhance the delivery of finasteride, a drug used to treat androgenetic alopecia, through the use of niosomal and proniosomal carrier systems. Niosomes and proniosomes were prepared using different ratios of cholesterol and Span 20. The formulations with cholesterol-Span 20 (1:1) showed better characteristics such as vesicle size, drug content, in vitro release profile, and skin permeability. The addition of dicetyl phosphate (DCP) as a charge inducer did not significantly affect the skin permeability. Stability studies showed that the formulation remained stable for 60 days. Clinical trials were conducted on twenty healthy male volunteers using the proniosomal gel formulation with cholesterol-Span 20 (1:1) and DCP. The results showed a significant increase in anagen hair count in the test group compared to the control group, indicating that the proniosomal gel formulation successfully increased the drug concentration in the hair shaft's androgenic receptors. This suggests that the formulation can be safely used to treat androgenetic alopecia.

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