Ferulic Acid-NLC with Essential Oil: A Possible Strategy for Wound-Healing?

Nowadays, an increasing interest in combinatorial drug delivery systems is emerging, highlighting the possibility of exploiting essential oils (EO) for topical applications. This work aimed at developing nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC) for the combined delivery of ferulic acid and EO, whose beneficial effects in wound-healing processes have been widely reported. Homogeneous (polydispersity index, PDI < 0.2) nanoparticles with a small size (<150 nm) and a high encapsulation efficiency (>85%) were obtained. The co-presence of ferulic acid and EO, as compared to synthetic isopropyl myristate-based NLC, increased nanoparticles' stability, due to higher ordering chains, as confirmed by morphological and physicochemical studies. An enhanced cytocompatibility was observed when combining ferulic acid and EO, as confirmed by in vitro studies on fibroblasts. Furthermore, the combined delivery of ferulic acid and EO significantly promoted cell migration with higher effectiveness in respect to the free drug solution and the carrier without the EO. Taken all together, our results suggest a potential combined effect of the antioxidant ferulic acid and EO co-delivered in lipid nanoparticles in promoting cell proliferation and migration, representing a promising strategy in the treatment of wounds.