FABRICATION OF DICLOFENAC TOPICAL CREAM CONTAINING EUTECTIC MIXTURE OF CAMPHOR AND MENTHOL WITH IMPROVED DRUG TRANSPORT

摘要

The present work was directed towards fabrication of diclofenac topical cream with similar physical characteristics but with better drug transport than market formulation using eutectic mixture of camphor and menthol as a solvent and powerful permeation enhancer. Bees wax, white soft paraffin and liquid paraffin constituted the oily phase in the creams. Different batches were formulated by varying the amount of eutectic mixture, eucalyptus oil, methyl salicylate and propylene glycol. Selection of the optimized batch was done by comparing the results of viscosity, lag time for feeling of warmth, subsequent cooling sensation and in vitro drug transport. Less than 53% drug was transported from Volini~R at the end of 12 h. More than 92% drug was transported from the optimized batch containing 15% w/w eutectic mixture and 4% w/w eucalyptus oil with transport enhancement ratio of 0.77. The kinetics of drug transport was best explained by the Korsmeyer and Peppas model. The percentage in vitro drug transport of optimized batch through rat skin was 0.15 and 0.23 times higher than that obtained in human cadaver skin and shed snake skin respectively. Short-term stability study of the optimized batch demonstrated no considerable difference in performance characteristics.