Development, Characterization, and Evaluation of Celecoxib Microemulsion for Topical Delivery

Abstract

In the present research, the potential of topical microemulsion delivery of poorly aqueous soluble drug, that is, Celecoxib, was investigated. Microemulsions are regarded as highly biocompatible topical carrier systems for the delivery of several anti-inflammatory, local anesthetics, anti-infective drugs. Microemulsion vehicles composed of various proportions of oleic acid, Lipoid E80, and Capryol 90/PEG 400 as oil phase, surfactant, and cosurfactant phase, respectively. A pseudo-ternary phase diagram was constructed at room temperature by titration method, and the oil-to-surfactant/co-surfactant volume ratios (O/SC) that exhibit the maximum solubilization of water were determined. Microemulsion formulations were physically characterized for globule size, thermal stability, centrifugation stress testing, specific gravity, pH, and in vitro permeation studies on rat abdominal skin. The permeation data showed that microemulsion formulation, ME-2, showed increased Celecoxib flux to several-fold over the control vehicle, that is, the self-prepared gel formulation. It was concluded from the above studies that microemulsions could be a promising dosage form to improve drug stability in topical formulations.

Keywords:

• Celecoxib
• microemulsion
• permeation flux
• topical delivery

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Arbro Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, for providing the gift samples of Celecoxib; College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Raj Kumar Goel Institute of Technology, Ghaziabad, UP, India, for providing all the necessary research facilities; and SMITA Research Labs, IIT Delhi for the particle size analyzer. The authors also thanks to Gattefosse, France, for providing the gift sample of cosurfactant.

Notes

^a Mean ± SD, n = 6.

Mean ± SD, n = 3.

^a Mean ± SD, n = 3.