PREPARATION AND EVALUATION OF ERYTHROMYCIN MICROEMULSION FOR OPTHALMIC DRUG DELIVERY

Abstract

The main goal of the present study was to prepare and evaluate a stable transparent microemulsion with good corneal penetration and reduced frequency of dosing for ocular drug delivery. Extensive pre-corneal loss caused by rapid drainage and high tear liquid are the major drawbacks associated with conventional dosage forms 70% of total dosage forms available in market are conventional forms in which only 1 to 5% of the total drug penetrates into cornea and reaches to the intraocular tissue, To overcome these problems, microemulsion based systems are developed. Microemulsion was prepared by using oleic acid as an oil phase, tween 80 as surfactant, ethanol as co-surfactant and water as aqueous phase. The appropriate amount of drug was introduced into the oil phase with stirring. Mixture of surfactant and co-surfactant was added into the oil phase with vigorous stirring followed by addition of aqueous phase at a constant rate to form a transparent and stable microemulsion. The prepared microemulsions were evaluated for pH, viscosity, drug content, particle size and zeta potential. The optimised microemulsion formulation was appeared to be transparent and have minimum globule size of 12.1nm with 100% intensity, value of zeta potential was-11.11mV, pH 7.4, viscosity 153.23cp with highest in-vitro drug permeation (85%). The ex-vivo study report of optimised formulation using goat cornea also confirmed its permeation effectiveness.