Preparation, characterization, and in vitro antimicrobial assessment of nanocarrier based formulation of nadifloxacin for acne treatment.

The objective of the present study was to develop a nanocarrier based formulation of nadifloxacin and to investigate its in vitro antimicrobial effect against Propionibacterium acnes. Nanocarrier based microemulsion formulations were prepared by aqueous titration method, using oleic acid as oil phase, Tween-80 as surfactant and ethanol as co-surfactant in different ratios. This procedure yielded monodisperse microemulsions exhibiting a mean droplet size in the range of 95-560 nm. This range of particle size is good to treat follicle related disorders like acne vulgaris because the size of follicles is in the range of 50-100 microm. Furthermore the optimized formulations were characterized for surface morphology by transmission electron microscopy and refractive index. The permeation studies were carried out using rat skin mounted in Franz diffusion cells. Flux of the optimised formulation was 2.24 times that of control. The diameter of inhibition zone of the microemulsion was found good but smaller than that of a clindamycin disc because of the higher therapeutic efficacy of clindamycin against P. acnes. The results indicated that the developed microemulsion shows promising results against P. acnes bacteria and may be a good approach for acne treatment.