DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF HYDROGEL OF AN ANTI-FUNGAL DRUG

Objective: Topical gel preparations are used for application on skin or to certain mucosal surfaces for local action or for their emollient or protective action. Topical delivery of drugs can be achieved by incorporating drugs into the hydrogel matrix for effective delivery of drugs, thus avoiding first-pass metabolism and for increased local action in pain management and skin diseases. Methods: Hydrogel is a network of polymer chains that are hydrophilic, sometimes found as a colloidal gel in which water is the dispersion medium. Miconazole nitrate (MN) is a broad-spectrum antifungal agent of the imidazole group. It has been selected as a model drug for the preparation of hydrogel. For the preparation of hydrogel, Carbopol of different grades like 934p, 971p, and 974p have been selected. Drug–polymer interaction has been carried out by FT-IR spectroscopy. Standard curve of miconazole nitrate was prepared in phosphate buffer pH 5.5 and 7.4. Physico-chemical characteristics of the hydrogel, like pH, viscosity and % swelling index, were studied. % cumulative drug permeation study through dialysis membrane was done in phosphate buffer pH 7.4. Results: The results were found to be satisfactory. Carbopols have been used in different ratios to get a number of formulations. Out of these, nine formulations have been chosen by their satisfactory physicochemical characteristics and used for the study. The average pH, viscosity, % swelling index and drug content were found to be 7.36, 1.09 x 100 cps, 23.1 and 98.36 %, respectively. Drug permeation kinetics through the dialysis membrane has been done in a Franz diffusion cell at phosphate buffer pH-7.4. The permeation of Miconazole Nitrate through the dialysis membrane was maximum in F1 and minimum in F9. The drug permeation through the dialysis membrane followed zero-order kinetics. Conclusion: A sharp correlation between the % swelling index and the Cumulative % of drug permeated through the dialysis membrane has been found. With the increase in the % swelling index over a period of 6 h the permeation decreased; thus, the swelling of the formulations is responsible to inhibit the permeation of Miconazole Nitrate through the skin