Development of erianin-loaded dendritic mesoporous silica nanospheres with pro-apoptotic effects and enhanced topical delivery

Background Psoriasis is a malignant skin disease characterized as keratinocyte hyperproliferation and aberrant differentiation. Our previous work reported that a bibenzyl compound, erianin, has a potent inhibitory effect on keratinocyte proliferation. To improve its poor water-solubility, increase anti- proliferation activity, and enhance the skin delivery, erianin loaded dendritic mesoporous silica nanospheres (E/DMSNs) were employed. Results In this work, DMSNs with pore size of 3.5 nm (DMSN1) and 4.6 nm (DMSN2) were fabricated and E/DMSNs showed pore-size-dependent, significantly stronger anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic effect than free erianin on human immortalized keratinocyte (HaCaT) cells, resulting from higher cellular uptake efficiency. In addition, compared to free erianin, treatment with E/DMSNs was more effective in reducing mitochondrial membrane potential and increasing cytoplasmic calcium levels, which were accompanied by regulation of mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) pathway. Porcine skin was utilized in the ex vivo accumulation and permeation studies, and the results indicated higher drug retention and less drug penetration in the skin when administered as the E/DMSNs-loaded hydrogel compared to the erianin-loaded hydrogel. Conlusions This work not only illustrated the further mechanisms of erianin in anti-proliferation of HaCaT cells but also offer a strategy to enhance the efficiency of erianin and the capacity of skin delivery through the DMSNs drug delivery systems.