Amandeep Kaur

The present communication deals with the synthesis of some N´-alkylidene/arylidene-2-(4-substituted-5-phenyl-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-ylthio) aceto/arylhydrazides, their characterization and antimicrobial activity against medically important microbes. The final compounds were synthesized by reaction of 2-(4-substituted-5-phenyl-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-ylthio) acetohydrazide with various aliphatic and aromatic aldehydes in presence of glacial acetic acid in ethanol. The structures of the synthesized compounds were established by IR, NMR and Mass spectral studies. The antimicrobial activity was studied against Staphylococcus aureus (MTCC 87), Bacillus subtilis (MTCC 121), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MTCC 424), Escherichia coli (MTCC 40), Candida albicans (MTCC 183), Fusarium solani (MTCC 2935) using agar well diffusion method. Some of the tested compounds exhibited activity against all the microorganisms.  In particular, compounds 12, 19 and 22 were found to be active against all the tested bacterial strains and fungal strain Candida albicans. It was concluded that number and position of electron withdrawing substituents affects the activity.

The present review highlights human vagina as a valuable route of drug delivery due to its large permeation area, rich vascularization, avoidance of first pass metabolism and relatively low enzymatic activity designed for achieving both local and systemic applications. Vagina is the best route used for administration of drugs like antifungal, contraceptives steroids, peptides and antifungal drugs. The rate and extent of drug absorption through vaginal route may fluctuate depending upon vaginal physiology, age of patients, stage of menstrual cycle, pathological conditions, and formulation factors. This route offers the ease of convenience, good blood supply, absence of GIT and hepatic first pass metabolism and permeability to large molecular weight drugs. Several drawbacks like personal hygiene, gender specificity, cultural sensitivity and local irritation need to be considered while the designing the vaginal formulation. Thus, purpose of this study is to provide the summary of advances undergone in the field of vaginal drug delivery currently available in the market and challenges associated with systemic delivery of drug via vaginal route. This review also highlights the benefits of vaginal route as drug delivery.