This work focused on producing resveratrol nanocrystals using a high-pressure, high-speed basic homogenizer to improve resveratrol's aqueous solubility, and subsequently electrospinning them into novel polyvinylpyrrolidone/poloxamer 407 nanofiber scaffolds for application in the Ehrlich-induced murine skin cancer model. The final concentrations of resveratrol, polyvinylpyrrolidone, and poloxamer 407 in the electrospinning solution were 0.5% w/v, 12.5% w/v, and 2.5% w/v, respectively. Following 48 hours of drug release, Nanofibers NF-NC2 and NF-NC4, which included the nanocrystals NC2 and NC4 consisting of 2.5% w/w Poloxamer 407 and 2.5% w/w HPMC, respectively, demonstrated the highest drug release, at 66.65 ± 1.4% and 42.31 ± 0.37%, respectively. Only 33 ± 0.7% of the free drug-loaded nanofibers NF-D were released. Microscopic analyses of NF-NC 2 and NF-NC 4 revealed regular, homogeneous fibers, whereas NF-D displayed distortions and beads. The in vitro cytotoxicity assay compared NF-NC2 with NF-D, demonstrating NF-NC2's efficacy against squamous malignant cell viability. In the Ehrlich-induced animal model of skin cancer, mice treated with NF-NC2 showed the greatest symptoms' alleviation, as evidenced by reduced tumor growth and preserved healthy skin. Assessments of Ki-67 and tumor biomarkers demonstrated that NF-NC2 maintained levels comparable to those observed in healthy animals. It is concluded that selected resveratrol-loaded nanocrystals in nanofibers, NF-NC2, improved the resveratrol topical anti-skin cancer effect.
Elgewelly et al. (Fri,) studied this question.