Proniosomal vesicles as an effective strategy to optimize naproxen transdermal delivery

Abstract The oral administration of naproxen, a non-steroidal analgesic, antipyretic, anti-inflammatory drug, is associated with various gastrointestinal side effects including peptic ulcer and gastritis. The objective of the present research was to evaluate the prospective of transdermal delivery of naproxen using proniosomes as a vesicular carrier and its comparison with oral therapy. Drug loaded proniosomes were prepared by coacervation phase separation, which comprising of spans/tweens, lecithin, and cholesterol. The influence of formulation components was evaluated to assess their impact on the entrapment efficiency, vesicle size, zeta potential, in vitro release and ex vivo permeation. The results signify that the type of surfactant influenced the entrapment efficiency, vesicle size and zeta potential values of prepared proniosomes. All formulations displayed nano-sized vesicles with small polydispersity index value showing narrow particle size distribution. Hydrophilic tweens produced larger vesicles and exhibited greater drug release than their hydrophobic spans counterparts. Prepared proniosomes exhibited distinct drug release profile (p