Topical preparations have been used for the localized effect at the site of application by virtue of drug penetration into the underlying layer of skin or mucous membrane. In spite of many advantages of gels a major limitation is in the delivery of hydrophobic drugs. So to overcome this limitation, an emulgel based approach is being used consideringan antifungal hydrophobic drug miconazole nitrate. The formulations of miconazole emulgels were prepared using liquid paraffin and cow ghee as oil phase in varied concentrations and evaluated for its suitability with the carbopol as the gel base. The emulgel formulations were white viscous creamy with a smooth and homogenous appearance. The pH values of all the formulations ranged between 6.5 to 7. The formulated emulgels exhibited shear thinning thixotropic properties when subjected to rheological studies. The formulation F3 with cow ghee as the oil base showed better spreadability when compared to all other formulations. The in-vitro drug permeation studies was carried out using egg membrane for all the emulgel formulations and compared with plain miconazole gel formulation. The studies reported excellent results for formulation F3 with 96.18% of drug release with flux of 1191.6 mcg/cm2/ min. when compared to gel formulation of 42.82% and 697.12 mcg/cm2/ min. at the end of 8 h.
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