topical drug delivery.

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.

Anti-fungal agents like flucanazole, itraconazole, ketoconazole, clotrimazole etc. are used to treat various superficial and systemic fungal infections. Oral and parenteral administration of the antifungal drugs are associated with various side effects including headache, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, gastric ulceration and bleeding. Hepatic and renal toxicity was also observed in patients on high and prolonged use of drugs. Film forming hydrogels are the dosage form for the topical delivery of drugs and it can bypass the side effects related to the conventional dosage forms and can provide effective topical release of the drugs. These film forming gels are novel approach for providing sustained release with increased residence time, therapeutic effect and patient comfort.

The aim of present work was to develop a emulgel for the topical delivery system which is useful in the treatment of vaginal fungal infection. Emulgels having advantage of both emulsion & gels which act as a controlled drug delivery system for topically applied drugs. The Gel in formulations were prepared by dispersing Carbopol 934 & Carbapole 940 in purified water. Then oil phase & aqueous phase of the emulsion were prepared. Both the oily and aqueous phases were heated separately & then oily phase were added to the aqueous phase. add Glutaraldehyde in during of mixing of gel and emulsion in ratio 1:1 to obtain the emulgel. Prepared emulgels was investigated for different parameters. All the prepared emulgels showed acceptable physical properties concerning colour, viscosity, melting point, pH value, and spreadability. The results of in-vitro drug release showed that carbopol 934 was the formula of choice as it showed better drug release & antifungal activity. FTIR studies revealed that drug and all excipients are compatible. The data obtained from in- vitro permeation studies was treated by various conventional mathematical models (zero order, first order, Higuchi and Korsmeyer- peppa’s) to determine the release mechanism from the designed emulgel formulations. Selection of a suitable release model was based on the values of R2 (correlation coefficient), k (release constant) obtained from the curve fitting of release data. It was found that all the formulations follows the first order kinetics. The regression coefficients for the all formulations F1 to F4 of Higuchi plot was found to be almost linear. Key words: Emulgel, tioconazole, antifungal drug, topical drug delivery.

The aim of present work was to develop a self emulsifying emulsion of ketaconazole for the topical delivery system which is useful in the treatment of fungal infection. Prepared SEDDS was investigated for different parameters. All the prepared SEDDS showed acceptable physical properties concerning colour, viscosity, melting point etc. The results of in -vitro drug release showed that carbopol 934 was the formula of choice as it showed better drug release & antifungal activity. The percentage cumulative drug released was determined by UV spectrophotometer. FTIR studies revealed that drug and all excipients are compatible. The data obtained from in- vitro permeation studies was treated by various conventional mathematical models (zero order, first order, Higuchi and Korsmeyer- peppa’s) to determine the release mechanism from the designed self emulsifying formulations. Selection of a suitable release model was based on the values of R2 (correlation coefficient), k (release constant) obtained from the curve fitting of release data. It was found that all the formulations follows the first order kinetics. The regression coefficients for the all formulations F1 to F4 of Higuchi plot was found to be almost linear. Key words: SEDDS, ketaconazole, antifungal drug, topical drug delivery.