COMPARATIVE CHARACTERIZATION OF GEL LOADED OXICONAZOLE NITRATE NANOSPONGES FOR TOPICAL DELIVERY

Viresh K.C.*, Gopika S. and Shabaraya A.R.

ABSTRACT

Recent advances in nanotechnology paved path for design of nanogels with many potential applications in the field of nanomedicine. Nanogels being dispersions of hydrogel nanoparticles or nanosponges offer high drug loading compared to other nanocarriers and are thus suitable for solving issues related to stability, solubility and delayed release of actives and to formulate drug delivery systems for various administration routes besides the oral one. The objective of the present study was to formulate Oxiconazole nitrate nanosponges for topical delivery. Oxiconazole nitrate nanosponges were formulated using ethyl cellulose as polymer, polyvinyl alcohol as cross-linking agent and dichloromethane as solvent with different concentration. Which were evaluated for drug entrapment efficiency, surface morphology, particle size analysis, Zeta potential and percentage yield. Among all six different formulations F5 batch considered as the best with 88% of drug entrapment efficiency and least particle size (164.9nm). From the SEM analysis it's concluded that nanosponges are spherical, discrete with smooth surface and was loaded into the Carbopol 934 gel which were evaluated for viscosity, spreadability, pH, drug content, in- vitro drug diffusion study, release kinetics (R2 for Zero order 0.986), comparative study and stability studies. Overall, this study showed that nanosponges have a porous nature that creates a pathway for the release of the drug, and the process is simple and reproducible.

Keywords: Oxiconazole nitrate, Nanosponge, Topical gel, Ethyl cellulose, Zero order.