Development and Evaluation of Amine-Functionalized Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Based Gel for Enhanced Topical Antifungal Delivery of Voriconazole

A potent antifungal drug, voriconazole (VRZ), whose clinical performance is limited by its poor solubility. The current research aimed to investigate the capability of anime-functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs-NH₂) as a carrier for the topical VRZ delivery. The VRZ-CNTs formulation was optimized using a 3² full factorial design. An optimized VRZ-CNTs showed reasonable particle size (102.9 ± 1.02 nm), suitable zeta potential (-37.3 ± 1.01 mV), and maximum entrapment efficiency (85.32 ± 1.07%), indicates the reliability and stability of the formulation. FTIR study verifies the compatibility of the formulation constituents, while DSC and XRD results reveal transmission of drug’s nature from crystalline to amorphous. SEM results suggested nanotubular morphology of VRZ-CNTs. The VRZ was released from formulation in sustained manner and showed 85.66 ± 2.33% drug release at the end of 8 hours. The optimized VRZ-CNTS effectively incorporated into gel with the use of carbapol 934, which showed adequate pH (6.74 ± 0.21), drug content (97 ± 2.56%), spreadability (26.5 ± 1.21 g·cm/sec) and viscosity (8963 ± 117 mPa·s). The gel illustrated markedly higher Ex-vivo skin permeation and drug retention. Skin irritation study indicated that the gel formulation was non-irritant. Moreover, in vivo evaluations confirmed the enhanced antifungal efficacy and better histopathological recovery of the VRZ–CNTs gel compared to conventional gel. Thus, VRZ-CNTS gel represents a promising and efficient alternative to conventional topical antifungal treatment.