Enhancing Topical Delivery of Resveratrol through a Nanosizing Approach

Resveratrol is a naturally occurring polyphenol with strong antioxidant and free radical scavenging properties, recently proposed as a therapeutic agent for skin diseases. In this study, we investigated the possibility of improving the dermal bioavailability of the poorly water-soluble drug resveratrol by nanocrystal technology. To this purpose, nanosuspensions were prepared by the wet media milling technique, using Poloxamer 188 or Tween 80 as stabilizers, and characterized by means of both solid state and morphological and dimensional studies. All analytical data demonstrated that neither a modification of the drug crystalline pattern nor the isomerization of the trans double bond were observed after the wet media milling particle size reduction process, which produced rounded and smooth nanocrystals with a mean diameter ranging between 0.2–0.3 µm. Resveratrol skin delivery from nanosuspension formulations was evaluated by the pig ear skin model via tape stripping. Results of the experiments showed that after application of nanosuspension formulations, higher amounts of resveratrol could penetrate the skin at deeper levels compared to drug coarse suspensions. The antioxidant activity of resveratrol in nanocrystals was assessed by the DPPH assay, which demonstrated that the size reduction process as well as the formulation compositions did not modify the drug antioxidant activity.