Anuradha K. Salunkhe

The topical drug delivery facilitates a direct entry into the skin as a vital organ for diagnosis and cure without any threat of passing through first pass metabolism. Emulgels are nothing but, the combination of emulsion and gel. Emulgel is one of the novel strategy widely employed in acne, fungal infection, arthritis, inflammation, psoriasis and other topical infections. Emulgel for dermatological use has several constructive properties such as being thixotropic, emollient, easily spreadable, easily washable, greaseless, non-staining, water-soluble, greater shelf life, bio-friendly, clear and pleasant appearance. Emulgel is emulsion, either of water in oil or oil in water type, which are gelled by mixing with gelling agent such as HPMC, carbopol etc. However, gels carry a drawback in delivery of hydrophobic drug moiety and thus emulgel can prove a novel topical drug delivery for hydrophobic drugs by incorporating hydrophobic drug into gels using o/w emulsions. Emulgel helps in the incorporation of hydrophobic drugs into the oil phase and then dispersion of oil globules in aqueous phase as a continuous phase, resulting in o/w emulsion and this emulsion can be incorporate into gel base.

According to World Health Organization, 70-80% of the world’s population depends on the herbal medicines for their primary health care. Regardless of extensive applications of herbal medicines, this fact cannot be denied that, the plant materials are exposed to various contaminants like toxic elements, pesticide residues, insects etc. But, the main contaminants chiefly responsible for the deterioration of the herbal products are the microbes. They exert a bad impact on the overall quality and shelf life of the herbal products. Thus, evaluation techniques for contamination should be pointed out at every manufacturing step to assess the microbial contamination level on crude drug.