Ghee based nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) with improved wound-healing effects

Ghee or butter oil is an excellent medium for preparing herbal cosmetics and Ayurvedic medicines formulations. However, water immiscibility restricts its use as a potential carrier system, particularly in lipidbased topical formulations. In this work, we prepared ghee-based nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) using olive oil as liquid lipid, Tween 60 as surfactant, and glycerol as co-surfactant by hot emulsification–ultrasonication method. Then, the loaded NLC with a mixture of ethanolic extracts of Achillea millefolium, Horsetail, and Plantago major L. was prepared similarly. NLCs were characterized in size, zeta potential, polydispersity index (PDI), and creaming index. The particle size of NLCs was lower than 100 nm, and the zeta potential displayed a negative charge in all formulations. The results of the creaming index showed that NLCs were stable for up to 8 weeks under refrigerated conditions. The wound-healing effects of the NLCs were evaluated using an excision model in rats. The NLCs displayed significantly increased wound contraction and decreased epithelialization period compared to standard drug phenytoin. This study showed that ghee-based formulations are much more efficacious in NLC for wound healing promotion than their macroemulsion form. The formulated system is easy to produce and apply and could be favorable for topical application in pharmaceutical industries.