Carbopol-olive oil-based bigel drug delivery system of doxycycline hyclate for the treatment of acne

Abstract

Objective

The objective of this study was to prepare and evaluate the doxycycline hyclate containing bigel for the effective treatment of acne.

Methods

Bigels are biphasic systems formed by water-based hydrogels and oil-based organogel. Carbopol 940 was used to prepare the hydrogel phase, whereas Span-60 and olive oil for the oleogel phase.

Results

The microstructure of bigel confirmed the oil in water type emulsion formation. The average droplet size of formulations was found 15–50 µm, and a bell-shaped droplet distribution curve, rheological, or viscosity studies suggested that the consistency and stability of bigel decrease with high organogel concentration. Three formulations (F1, F2, and F3) of the different ratios of hydrogel:oleogel (60:40, 70:30, and 80:20) were prepared in which F1 was less stable compared to F2 and F3. The drug content of F2 and F3 was respectively 79.94 and 71.33%. Formulation F2 was found more effective as compared to F3 based on in vitro drug release studies. Bigel also showed better results during in vivo studies at the rabbit ear model, which reduce acne diameter up to 1.10 mm from 4.9 mm while gel reduced it up to 1.20 mm.

Keywords:

• Bigel
• acne
• doxycycline hyclate
• carbopol 940
• olive oil

Acknowledgements

The author would like to acknowledge the Neon Laboratories (Mumbai, India) for providing doxycycline hyclate (DOH) as a gift sample.

Ethical approval

This article contains the in vivo experiment on New Zealand White rabbits, which was approved by ‘The Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA)’, India. Registration no. 379/CPCSEA/IAEC-2019/38.

Author contributions

Kumud Soni: Investigation, conceptualization, and methodology.

Vishal Gour: Writing-original draft, software, formal analysis, and writing-review & editing.

Poornima Agrawal: Formal analysis, resources, and writing-review & editing.

Tanweer Haider: Resources, writing-review & editing, and formal analysis.

Indu Lata Kanwar: Resources.

Avijit Bakshi: Resources and writing-original draft.

Vandana Soni: Validation, supervision, and project administration.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).