A new ethosomal nanoparticle for controlled release of black cumin compounds against cancer cells

Black cumin contains biologically active compounds such as Thymoquinone, which have strong anti-cancer properties. However, most of these agents have poor stability and solubility that limits their use as drugs. In this work, an anti-cancer ethosomal nanostructure containing black cumin extract (BCE) was prepared to release as transdermal-controlled. After synthesis and evaluation of the vesicles for size and charge, as well as determining the ratio of in vitro and ex vivo permeability, experiments to assay their cell toxicity and apoptosis were also investigated. It was confirmed the stable shape (containing 5% soy lecithin, 45% ethanol, and 1.5% cholesterol with a ζ-potential of -61±2 and PDI of 0.14± 0.01.), spherical morphology (20nm) and the effective release rate (40% after 24h in ex vivo permeability test) of these loaded ethosomal nanocarriers using the HPLC, DLS, FTIR, TGA methods and the in vitro and ex vivo release tests. MTT bioassay with BCE (96µg/ml compared to 200 µg/ml) and DOX separately and their ethosomal forms showed the higher cellular toxicity of ethosomic forms on MCF-7. Flow cytometry also proved strong apoptosis in the MCF-7 cells treated with ethosomal compared to non-ethosomal forms (~64.7% for BCE (5.90% in late apoptotic stage), and ~21.6% of BCE-Eth (~71.8% in late apoptosis stage). In conclusion, our findings show that this new nanoparticle not only improves the enclosure of plant metabolites and chemotherapeutic agents but also increases the effectiveness of metabolites by increasing their controlled release and so on reduces the side effects of chemotherapy drugs.