Smart antifungal thermosensitive chitosan/carboxymethylcellulose/scleroglucan/montmorillonite nanocomposite hydrogels for onychomycosis treatment

Abstract In this study, oxiconazole nitrate (OXI)-loaded antifungal thermosensitive chitosan/carboxymethylcellulose/scleroglucan/montmorillonite (CHT/CMC/SGL/MMT) nanocomposite hydrogels were developed for onychomycosis treatment. The presence of 5% (w/w) MMT within hydrogel matrix increased the glass transition temperature of CHT/CMC/SGL material from 63.72 °C to 76.75 °C and the compressive stress value from 126.45 ± 8.83 kPa to 266.99 ± 6.60 kPa. For the use of hydrogel materials in the treatment of onychomycosis, antifungal OXI drug was loaded into the network of thermosensitive CHT/CMC/SGL and CHT/CMC/SGL/MMT hydrogels and the release of OXI from these materials was monitored spectrophotometrically. At the end of 420 min, for hydrogel systems containing 0, 1, 3 and 5% (w/w) MMT, OXI release amounts were determined as 70.33 ± 1.74%, 63.92 ± 0.31%, 58.78 ± 1.45% and 52.89 ± 0.21%, respectively. This means that the drug release depends on the MMT amount within hydrogel matrix and can be controlled by changing the amount of clay mineral in hydrogel material. OXI-loaded new hydrogels showed high antifungal activity against Trichophyton mentagrophytes and Trichophyton rubrum dermatophytes. This study suggests that new antifungal thermosensitive CHT/CMC/SGL/MMT nanocomposite hydrogels could be promising materials for onychomycosis treatment.