Anti-AgingPeer Reviewed

Thermodynamically stable ionic liquid microemulsions pioneer pathways for topical delivery and peptide application.

Authors (10)
Tianqi Liu
Ying LiuDepartment of Chemistry, College of Sciences, Northeastern University, Shenyang, 110819, China.
Xiaoyu ZhaoCAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055, China.
Liguo ZhangHarbin Voolga Technology Co., Ltd., Harbin, 150070, China.
Bioactive materials
Unknown
Published
Oct 13, 2025
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Abstract

Copper peptides (GHK-Cu) are a powerful hair growth promoter with minimal side effects when compared with minoxidil and finasteride; however, challenges in delivering GHK-Cu topically limits their non-invasive applications. Using theoretical calculations and pseudo-ternary phase diagrams, we designed and constructed a thermodynamically stable ionic liquid (IL)-based microemulsion (IL-M), which integrates the high drug solubility of ILs and high skin permeability of microemulsions, thus improving the local delivery of copper peptides by approximately three-fold while retaining their biological function. Experiments in mice validated the effectiveness of our proposed IL-M system. Furthermore, the exact effects of the IL-M system on the expression of growth factors, such as vascular endothelial growth factor, were revealed, and it was found that microemulsion increased the activation of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, which includes factors involved in hair growth regulation. Overall, the safe and non-invasive IL microemulsion system developed in this study has great potential for the clinical treatment of hair loss.

Keywords

Bio-based ionic liquidsCopper peptidesHair regenerationMicroemulsionTransdermal delivery

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