Modified chitosan-fabricated antifungal transdermal array for dermatophytosis therapy

Abstract

Dermatophytosis is a complex and prevalent fungal skin infection that affects a significant portion of the global population. Conventional antifungal therapies are often compromised by their inability to effectively penetrate fungal biofilms and limited skin permeability, ultimately leading to unsatisfactory clinical results. To address these issues, we proposed a novel dissolvable microneedle (MN) patch (denoted as TB/QCS MNs) that encapsulated terbinafine (TB) within the quaternary ammonium chitosan (QCS) MN tips. The combination of QCS and TB exhibited a pronounced synergistic effect against Trichophyton mentagrophytes (T. mentagrophytes). Importantly, TB/QCS MNs effectively disrupted fungal biofilms and damaged extracellular polymeric substances. In comparison to TB alone, TB/QCS MNs effectively accelerated fungal clearance, shortened treatment time, and enhanced skin recovery in T. mentagrophytes-infected C57BL/6 mice. These findings demonstrated that TB/QCS MNs significantly improve therapeutic efficacy for dermatophytosis, offering a promising alternative for clinical treatment of skin fungal infections.