Nanoemulsion based Hydrogels of Itraconazole for Transdermal Drug Delivery

The present study aimed to formulate a nanoemulsion and nanoemulsion based hydrogel of itraconazole for transdermal delivery in the treatment of on chomycosis. The nanoemulsions were prepared using lecithin and sodium cholate as surfactant and co-surfactant. The prepared nanoemulsions were characterized for particle size and zeta potential. The optimized nanoemulsion was incorporated into 3% carbopol-934 solution to get a gel for improving convenience in superficial application. In vitro and ex vivo drug penetration studies of nanoemulsions and gels were determined using dialysis membrane and rat skin. The particle size was found around 223.9 nm to 154.3 nm. The viscosity of the nanoemulsions and nanoemulsion gel were found around 1964.89 mPa.S to 1644.82 mPa.S and 28.3 mPa.S to 8.58 mPa.S respectively. The polydispersibility value was found very low indicating uniformity of droplet size of the formulations. The drug content in gels was found in between 86.2% to 98.26%. The drug release was found to be 44.33 % to 73.6% after 24 h with permeation flux around 296.3 to 203.1 (mu g/cm(2)/hr(1)). The results indicated that nanoemulsion based hydrogels as promising vehicle for transdermal delivery of itraconazole. Further in vivo studies are to be performed to access its suitability for topical application.