{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,10]],"date-time":"2026-07-10T18:16:02Z","timestamp":1783707362516,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":64,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,10]],"date-time":"2026-07-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1783641600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100022230","name":"Deanship of Scientific Research, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["PNURSP2026R736"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PNURSP2026R736"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100022230","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100019725","name":"Deanship of Scientific Research, Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["PSAU\/2026\/R\/1447"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PSAU\/2026\/R\/1447"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100019725","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS One"],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"sec001\">\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Miconazole (MN) is widely used to treat superficial fungal infections; however, limited skin penetration and short residence time restrict its therapeutic efficacy. This study aimed to develop and statistically optimize MN-loaded sterosomes (STEs) to enhance topical antifungal activity.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"sec002\">\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      A central composite rotatable design (CCRD) was applied using Design-Expert\u00ae software to study the effects of cholesterol amount (mg) and sonication time (min) on vesicle size (VS), zeta potential (ZP), and entrapment efficiency (EE%). Vesicle morphology was characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and drug entrapment was confirmed using X-ray diffraction (XRD). The optimized formulation was incorporated into a hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) gel and evaluated for\n                      <jats:italic>in vitro<\/jats:italic>\n                      release and\n                      <jats:italic>in-vivo<\/jats:italic>\n                      antifungal efficacy in a Wistar albino rats cutaneous candidiasis model (n\u2009=\u20096) following topical administration of optimized MN-loaded sterosome gel 1% w\/w for ten days.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"sec003\">\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      The optimized formulation showed a desirability of 0.63 and consisted of 140.86 mg cholesterol and 8.99 min sonication time. It demonstrated vesicle size: 498.54\u2009\u00b1\u20096.12 nm, zeta potential: 40.82\u2009\u00b1\u20091.24 mV, entrapment efficiency: 77.41\u2009\u00b1\u20091.43%. MN release from STEs was significantly higher than the drug suspension. TEM images showed spherical non-aggregated vesicles. XRD patterns indicated successful MN entrapment.\n                      <jats:italic>In-vivo<\/jats:italic>\n                      , MN-STE gel produced significantly greater antifungal activity than commercial Daktarin\u00ae cream at a lower dose, which was consistent with histopathological improvement.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"sec004\">\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>MN-loaded sterosomes enhanced drug entrapment, release, and antifungal efficacy while enabling dose reduction, representing a promising carrier for topical miconazole delivery.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0353060","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,10]],"date-time":"2026-07-10T17:52:06Z","timestamp":1783705926000},"page":"e0353060","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Topical sterosomes-based nanocarrier of miconazole for the management of cutaneous candidiasis"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"21","author":[{"given":"Maha","family":"Alsunbul","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Randa Mohammed","family":"Zaki","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ghaida N.","family":"Alnuwaybit","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fatimah A.","family":"Aljunayh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mohd Nazam","family":"Ansari","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Najeeb Ur","family":"Rehman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2410-7916","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Abubaker M.","family":"Hamad","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fatma I.","family":"Abo El-Ela","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1076-9740","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Ehssan","family":"Moglad","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mayada","family":"Said","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,10]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0353060.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.2165\/00003495-200161001-00001","article-title":"An overview of fungal infections","volume":"61","author":"G Garber","year":"2001","journal-title":"Drugs"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0353060.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"294","DOI":"10.1080\/10717544.2022.2026535","article-title":"Polymeric versus lipid nanocapsules for miconazole nitrate enhanced topical delivery: in vitro and ex vivo evaluation","volume":"29","author":"RS Abdel-Rashid","year":"2022","journal-title":"Drug Deliv"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0353060.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"248","DOI":"10.1186\/s12917-020-02460-x","article-title":"Occurrence of various pathogenic and opportunistic fungi in skin diseases of domestic animals: a retrospective study","volume":"16","author":"B Dworecka-Kaszak","year":"2020","journal-title":"BMC Vet Res"},{"issue":"18","key":"pone.0353060.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1485","DOI":"10.1016\/0024-3205(96)00042-2","article-title":"Immunity at the surface: homeostatic mechanisms of the skin immune system","volume":"58","author":"IR Williams","year":"1996","journal-title":"Life Sci"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0353060.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"32","DOI":"10.3390\/microorganisms5020032","article-title":"Interaction of Candida species with the skin","volume":"5","author":"A K\u00fchbacher","year":"2017","journal-title":"Microorganisms"},{"key":"pone.0353060.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Vazquez J, Sobel J. 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