Search

Niosomes could increase the efficacy of the irrigants by providing a controlled drug release. Incorporating niosomes into an in situgel matrix maximizes the drug retention time in the root canal system. The focus of this study was the fabrication and characterization of a niosomal in situgel system for delivering chlorhexidine to root canals. For this aim, chlorhexidine-loaded niosomes were optimized by evaluating the impacts of surfactant type, surfactant to cholesterol ratio, lipid to drug weight ratio, and ethanol concentration on particle size and entrapment efficiency (EE) using an experimental design. The in situgels were also optimized with the aid of an experimental design by identifying the effects of chitosan and β-glycerophosphate concentrations as well as the solution stirring time on the gelation time and gelation temperature. The optimum niosomal nanoformulation showed an average particle size of 115 nm, EE% of ∼80 %, and PDI of 0.1. The optimum in situgels showed the lowest gelation time and appropriate gelation temperature (60 s and 29 °C, respectively). The in vitrorelease studies showed that niosomal in situgels successfully sustained the release of ∼97 % of chlorhexidine over 144 h with Higuchi kinetics. Furthermore, the biological evaluations revealed that the niosomal in situgels were cytocompatible. The system also exhibited antibacterial activity against Enterococcus faecalisbacteria, Streptococcus mutans, and Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitansby respectively showing 18.0, 33.3, and 48.3 mm inhibition zones in the agar well diffusion test. Overall, the results indicated that niosome-embedded in situgels showed promising potential for antimicrobial delivery to root canals.