Tailor-made mucoadhesive lipid nanogel improves oromucosal antimycotic activity of encapsulated miconazole nitrate

The use of miconazole nitrate (MN) in the treatment of oropharyngeal candidiasis (OPC) is limited by low drug bioavailability, frequent administration, fungal resistance and toxicity concerns. Lipid nanogel comprising solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) incorporated into a gel base could be employed to prolong and target MN to the oromucosal layers, minimizing its associated side effects while enhancing its lethality against resistant Candida albicans . In this study, novel tailor-made oropharyngeal lipid nanogels encapsulating MN were developed and evaluated for improved treatment of OPC. Wide angle X-ray diffractogram analysis revealed the amorphous nature of the lipid matrix, containing beeswax and Phospholipon ® 90H, used in preparing the SLNs. The SLNs had varied polydispersity indices, good encapsulation efficiency (EE) and mean droplet size of 204.0±2.9–263.0±7.1 nm. The developed lipid nanogels were pseudoplastic and possessed suitable mucoadhesive strengths on ‘cow-everted’ oromucosal tissue, with greater anticandidal properties regarding fungal inhibition than marketed MN formulation (Daktarin ® oral gel) at equivalent concentration. This study has shown that the activity of MN against oral thrush swab (OTS) of C. albicans was improved by formulation as tailor-made mucoadhesive lipid nanogel, and hence could be exploited as an alternative therapeutic carrier for the effective treatment of OPC.