FORMULATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF PALM OLEIN/CAPRYLIC TRIGLYCERIDES ESTER BASED EMULGEL FOR TOPICAL USE
| MARGARET OKONAWAN ILOMUANYA*, CHUKWUEMEKA ANTHONY OFORKAJA
Department of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy. University of Lagos, PMB 12003, Surulere, Lagos, Nigeria. Afr. J Pharm Res Dev; Volume 12(2): 172-180 ; 2020 ABSTRACT A major limitation of hydrogels is in the delivery of hydrophobic drugs. This study aims at designing and optimizing a metronidazole emulgel by utilizing a blend of palm olein and caprylic triglycerides esters as the oil base. The emulgel was prepared by fusion method. The gel phase in the formulations was prepared by dispersing carbopol 940 in Milli-Q water, this was mixed at with the emulsion in a 1:1 ratio with gentle stirring to obtain the emulgel. The prepared emulgel formulations were inspected visually for their microscopic studies, colour, appearance, phase separation and consistency. In vitro release studies of metronidazole were carried using Franz diffusion cell and kinetics of drug released evaluated using different kinetic models. The pH values of all prepared formulation ranged from 6.17 to 6.75, which were considered acceptable to avoid the risk of irritation upon application to the skin. The percentage of the drug diffused for 12 h was highest for E8 and E6 at 12 h 88.72% ± 1.33 and 86.11% ± 1.72 respectively. The emulgels were efficacious for the delivery of lipophilic and poorly soluble drug metronidazole. Release of the drug followed zero order kinetics via drug reservoir constitution within the emugel matrix. This facilitated sustained release and can be applied to other active pharmaceutical ingredients for sustained drug delivery. Email of correspondence: milomuanya@unilag.edu.ng KEYWORDS: Emulgel, Metronidazole, Palm olein, Caprylic triglycerides. |