Executive Summary : | Psoriasis is a chronic skin disorder affecting 2-3% of the global population, impacting their quality of life and personal and social life. Current treatments include topical, systemic, biological, and phototherapy. Common drugs for psoriasis include Methotrexate (MTX), cyclosporin, and newer molecules like apremilast (AMT) and pefcalcitol. However, these drugs are poorly water-soluble and poorly permeable through the skin, leading to adverse effects such as diarrhea, respiratory tract infection, and hepatotoxicity. This study aims to develop a site-specific application of drugs MTX and AMT using ionic liquid-based microemulsions and micelles to improve solubility and permeability. Ionic liquids (ILs) are salts of cations and anions that are liquid at room temperature. The ILs micelles and IL in oil (IL/O) microemulsion formulation will be attempted to improve drug efficacy. Choline as a cation will be used to reduce the adverse effect caused by MTX, while omega fatty acid or urea as keratolytics will be selected. The objective is to synthesize biocompatible ionic liquid for encapsulating drugs MTX and AMT individually in micelle or microemulsion-based ILs. Surface tension, critical micelle concentration, and interfacial tension of ILs will be investigated to develop micelle and microemulsion formulations. The optimized formuation will be evaluated for cytotoxicity, invitro skin irritation, and invivo activity in mice. This project involves interdisciplinary work in synthesis, formulation development, colloidal science, and pharmacology to enhance networking and technical skills. The developed formulation will provide site-specific effects, minimize side effects, increase solubility and permeability, and solve stability problems with MTX and AMT. |