Abstract

FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF A PHYTOSOMAL GEL CONTAINING AZADIRACHTA INDICA EXTRACT- PHOSPHOLIPID COMPLEX

Rutuja Sawant* and Sheela Yadav

ABSTRACT

Aim and objective: The present research aims to develop a phytosomal antifungal gel formulation of Azadirachta indica (neem). The neem phytosomal gel formulation is made for better patient compliance and to reduce the dose of the drug and to avoid first pass metabolism and the other side effects. There are many herbal extracts having excellent in-vitro activity but less penetrating activity through skin because of their macromolecular size and poor lipid solubility, which result in poor absorption and penetration. Method: Thin film hydration technique was used for the formation of phytosome. The phytosome was characterized by particle size, entrapment efficiency, drug content, zeta potential SEM, FTIR. Further, the optimized phytosome complex were formulated as gels using varying polymers in differing concentrations and were assessed for their homogeneity, pH, drug content and in vitro release, ex vivo permeation using Franz diffusion cell. Antifungal activity of phytosome of Azadirachta indica was evaluated on Candida albicans. Results: The particle size, zeta potential, entrapment efficiency and drug content of optimized phytosomal batch was found to be 186.8 nm, -27.5 mV, 80.15%, 88.61 %. The optimized phytosomal gel batch showed the good appearance, pH 6.08, drug content 84.67%. The drug release profile for optimized batch showed invitro release of 88.77% and ex vivo release of 54.9%. The phytosomal gel formulated using Azadirachta indica of optimized batch showed enhanced skin permeability and antifungal activity. Conclusion: The study demonstrated that the phytosomal gel developed using methanolic extract of A. indica would be beneficial for treating fungal infections.

Keywords: Phytosome, soya lecithin, entrapment, soxhlet, polydispersity index, permeability.