Lavender essential oil nanoemulsion gel as skin lightener: green formulation, full characterization, anti-melanogenesis effect, and in-vitro/in-vivo safety profile assessment

Objective(s): In this study, to improve anti-melanogenesis properties, the green method based on an ultrasonic approach was utilized to prepare lavender essential oil (LEO) nanoemulgel.Material and Methods: Nano-emulsion green preparation, physico-chemical characterization, inspection morphology, animal safety study, cellar toxicity and anti-pigmentation test were performed.Results: The obtained results showed that with a decline in HLB value (Hydrophilic–lipophilic balance), the mean particle size declined from ۱۵۷.۶۰۰±۳.۷۹۸ to ۸۵.۵۶۶± ۲.۲۲۷ nm (P< ۰.۰۵). The evaluations performed with the accelerated stability test (freeze-thaw cycle) showed stability for nanoemulgel. Other factors, such as pH, spreadability, and, viscosity were also measured. In vitro cytotoxicity studies for the revealed LEO-nanoemulsion, on the HFF normal cell line showed less toxicity (۷۳%) than pure LEO. Moreover, LEO-nanoemulsion had a higher cytotoxic impact on B۱۶F۱۰ melanoma cancer cells than pure LEO. The inhibitory activity of this LEO-nanoemulsion was evaluated in melanin content, which indicated that melanin synthesis is more inhibited than LEO. Furthermore, the evaluation of the inhibitory activity presented that the inhibition of L-dopa auto oxidation (۸۷.۳۳± ۲.۴۵%) is better than that of LEO (۷۴.۲۲± ۳.۲۶%) at a concentration of ۵۰۰۰ µg/ml. It should be noted that no skin irritation was observed with the histo-pathological examination on Wistar rat and the dermal irritation study for the LEO-nanoemulgel.Conclusion: The results of the present study can be very useful for the introduction and local administration of LEO nanoemulgel for the management of hyperpigmentation conditions.

کلیدواژه ها:

Lavender ، Essential oil ، Nanotechnology ، Green method ، anti-melanogenesis