Span 60 Niosomes of Silver Sulfadiazine: A Localized Sustained Release System for Burn Treatment

This investigation deals with the formulation of sustained release niosome based system of silver sulfadiazine for the treatment of burn and thereby decreasing the dosing frequency which is really important for severe burn patient as every reapplication is very painful to them. In this investigation, the effect of different processing variables on entrapment efficiency of drug was evaluated. The vesicle size, photomicroscopy, in vitro release, scanning electron microscopy, stability and in vitro antimicrobial activity of niosomal vesicles formed were also characterized. Niosomes were developed from span 60 and cholesterol in different molar ratio by ether injection, thin film hydration and non solvent methods. Results indicated that the niosomes manufactured with span 60 and cholesterol in 50:50 molar ratio using 100mg of drug by thin film hydration method gives highest entrapment of 92.11%. The method of preparation and contents of cholesterol as well as drug were found to affect the entrapment. The optimized niosomal formulation exhibited significantly retarded in vitro release of 98.04% over 28 hours by a higuchi controlled mechanism. The in vitro antimicrobial study using Staphylococcus aureus revealed that niosomal formulation of silver sulfadiazine shows better zone of inhibition (18mm) in comparison to conventional dosage form (17mm). In conclusion this study showed that the niosomal formulation can be used as promising sustained release approach for the topical delivery of silver sulfadiazine in the treatment of burn.