Design and Evaluation of Flurbiprofen Micro-Emulsion Based Gel

Abstract

Flurbiprofen via oral route has many side effects. Many inflammatory infections occur locally and close to the body's surface, so topical application of flurbiprofen is advantageous. Still, intact skin acts as a barrier and hampers skin penetration of the drug. Present objective of this work was to reduce the adverse effect of flurbiprofen and increase its bioavailability by formulating Flurbiprofen microemulsion based gel, evaluating it for its Physico-chemical properties and then finally conducting its in-vitro and animal studies to determine its efficiency. Arachis oil was selected as an oil phase as flurbiprofen showed maximum solubility in it. Microemulsion formulations (A1 to A9) were prepared by varying the qty of tween 80 (as a surfactant) and propylene glycol (as co-surfactant). Microemulsions which were found to give satisfactory results w.r.t microemulsion formation (F1 to F5) were converted to microemulsion gel using Carbopol 934 as gel base. The ability of different microemulsions to penetrate flurbiprofen through the skin was in-vitro evaluated. All the formulations were evaluated for their quantity of drug present in the formulation, pH, Viscosity, Spreadability, in vitro diffusion study. Formula F4, which showed good Physico-chemical properties, was subjected to anti-inflammatory study. Results showed that pH, spreadability, viscosity and amount of active ingredient present in formulations were in an acceptable limit. The standard calibration curve for flurbiprofen depicts the linear association between concentration and absorbance. The formulation F4 has the highest % release, 90.54% also showed a higher % inhibition of paw oedema after 4 hrs than marketed formulation.