Abstract

Nancy Raj*, Krit Pandey, Keval Pachoriya, Manish Kumar, Kavita Choudhari, Kusum Kumari, Lubna Shaheen and Jagadish Chandra Rathi

ABSTRACT

Fluconazole is an imidazole derivative used for the treatment of local and synthetic fungal infection. The oral use of fluconazole is not recommended as it has many side effects. In order to decrease the side effects, fluconazole hydrogel have been developed. Topical gel preparations are intended for skin application or to certain mucosal surfaaces for local action or transdermal penetration of medicament or for their emollient or protective action. Topical delivery of drugs can be achieved by incorporating drug into the gel matrix for effective delivery of drugs, thus avoiding first pass metabolism and for increased local action in skin diseases. The present study was designed to formulate and evaluate different formulae of hydrogel gel containing fluconazole for treatment of fungal infection of skin. The gel was formulated by using carbapol and Tween 80 as gelling agent. Five different formulae (ME1 to ME5) was prepared and characterized physically in term of colour, spreadability, pH and rheological properties (viscosity), skin irritation studies, mechanical stress study and drug release. Drug-excipients compatibility studies were confirmed by FT-IR. These results suggest the feasibility of the topical gel formulation of fluconazole.