CHALLENGES AND NOVEL APPROACHES FOR THE TREATMENT OF ONYCHOMYCOSIS

Abstract

Onychomycosis is a fungal disease of nail and approximately half of the patients of nail disorders suffers from it. The current review focuses on human nail, disease, factors affecting drug penetration for understanding the challenges in drug delivery, as well as, current and novel approaches for the treatment of onychomycosis. Human nail composed of compressed keratinized cell act as major barrier for drug penetration for treatment of damaged nail. Variety of factors affecting drug penetration through human nail like molecular weight, partition coefficient, affinity to keratin, pKa and ionization, type of vehicle, use of penetration enhancers, etc are to be taken into consideration while design and development of topical formulations. Apart from oral treatments, mechanical approaches as nail abrasion,
physical approaches like iontophoresis, etching, laser, ultrasound have also been explored for penetration enhancement. Formulation scientists are working towards development of novel nano-formulations like nanoparticles, SLN, NLC, liposomes, spanlastics, nano-emulsions, etc. Lastly, the review focuses on several attempts for drug penetration studies using human
nail or bovine hoof membrane.