{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,16]],"date-time":"2026-10-16T20:54:41Z","timestamp":1792184081806,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":52,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,10,20]],"date-time":"2020-10-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1603152000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Universiti Teknologi Malaysia &amp; Ministry of Higher Education (Malaysia)","award":["PhD scholarship fund"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PhD scholarship fund"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Pharmaceutics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Dutasteride, licensed as an oral medicine for the treatment of benign prostatic hypoplasia, has been investigated as a treatment for androgenic alopecia. In this study, the potential for dustasteride to be delivered topically in order to reduce systemic exposure, irritation of the skin, and also cytotoxicity was explored. Chitosan oligomer (CSO) was successfully synthesised with lauric acid as a coating for a dutasteride-loaded nanostructured lipid carriers (DST-NLCs) system. DST-NLCs were prepared using a combination of melt-dispersion and ultrasonication. These negatively charged NLCs (\u221218.0 mV) had a mean particle size of ~184 nm, which was not significantly increased (p &gt; 0.05) when coated with lauric acid-chitosan oligomer (CSO-LA), whilst the surface charge changed to positive (+24.8 mV). The entrapment efficiency of DST-NLCs was 97%, and coated and uncoated preparations were physically stable for up to 180 days at 4\u20138 \u00b0C. The drug release was slower from DST-NLCs coated with CSO-LA than from uncoated NLCs, with no detectable drug permeation through full-thickness pig ear skin from either preparation. Considering the cytotoxicity, the IC50 values for the DST-NLCs, coated and uncoated with CSO-LA were greater than for dutasteride alone (p &lt; 0.05). DST-NLCs and empty NLCs coated with CSO-LA at 25 \u00b5M increased the cell proliferation compared to the control, and no skin irritation was observed when the DST-NLC formulations were tested using EpiDerm\u2122. The cell and skin uptake studies of coated and uncoated NLCs incorporating the fluorescent marker Coumarin-6 showed the time-dependent uptake of Coumarin-6. Overall, the findings suggest that DST-NLCs coated with CSO-LA represent a promising formulation strategy for dutasteride delivery for the treatment of androgenic alopecia, with a reduced cytotoxicity compared to that of the drug alone and lower irritancy than an ethanolic solution of dutasteride.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/pharmaceutics12100994","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,10,20]],"date-time":"2020-10-20T20:50:07Z","timestamp":1603227007000},"page":"994","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":24,"title":["In Vitro Performance of Dutasteride-Nanostructured Lipid Carriers Coated with Lauric Acid-Chitosan Oligomer for Dermal Delivery"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2059-2069","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Norhayati Mohamed","family":"Noor","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmaceutics, UCL School of Pharmacy, 29\u201339 Brunswick Square, London WC1N 1AX, UK"},{"name":"Cosmeceutical &amp; Fragrance Laboratory, Institute of Bioproduct Development (N22), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, UTM Johor Bahru 81310, Johor, Malaysia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3192-8840","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Azila","family":"Abdul-Aziz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Cosmeceutical &amp; Fragrance Laboratory, Institute of Bioproduct Development (N22), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, UTM Johor Bahru 81310, Johor, Malaysia"},{"name":"School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, UTM Johor Bahru 81310, Johor, Malaysia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Khalid","family":"Sheikh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmaceutics, UCL School of Pharmacy, 29\u201339 Brunswick Square, London WC1N 1AX, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Satyanarayana","family":"Somavarapu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmaceutics, UCL School of Pharmacy, 29\u201339 Brunswick Square, London WC1N 1AX, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kevin M. G.","family":"Taylor","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmaceutics, UCL School of Pharmacy, 29\u201339 Brunswick Square, London WC1N 1AX, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,10,20]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1359","DOI":"10.1097\/00007611-197511000-00009","article-title":"Male pattern baldness: Classification and incidence","volume":"68","author":"Norwood","year":"1975","journal-title":"South. Med. J."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1561","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1523-1747.2003.12615.x","article-title":"Genetic basis of male pattern baldness","volume":"121","author":"Nyholt","year":"2003","journal-title":"J. Investig. Dermatol."},{"key":"ref_3","unstructured":"Groot, L., De Chrousos, G., Dungan, K., Feingold, K., Grossman, A., Hershman, J., Koch, C., Korbonits, M., McLachlan, R., and New, M. (2016). 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