Abstract

PREPARATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF AQUASOME BASED FORMULATION OF DITHRANOL FOR THE TREATMENT OF PSORIASIS

*Tripti Tiwari, Shagufta Khan, Neha Rao, Amit Josh, Bal Krishn Dubey

TIT College of Pharmacy, Bhopal (M.P.) India

ABSTRACT

Psoriasis is a common, chronic skin disorder, characterized by thickened, scaly patches or plaques of skin form which are the result of excessive production of skin cells and currently there is no cure for psoriasis. Aquasomes are nanoparticulate carrier system but instead of being simple nanoparticles these are three layered self assembled structures, comprised of a solid phase nanocrystalline core coated with oligomeric film to which biochemically active molecules are adsorbed with or without modification. Properties like protection and preservation of fragile biological molecules, conformational integrity and surface exposure made it as a successful carrier system for bioactive molecules. Dithranol drug is very effective in arthritis by exerting anti-inflammatory and anti-proliferative effects. High onset and long duration of action makes drug a good candidate for treating psoriasis. Aquasomes were prepared using colloidal precipitation method. The drug was successfully adsorbed on aquasomes as conformed by surface electron microscopy. Aquasome based dithranol cream was prepared by dispersing 5.9 gm drug loaded aquasomes and the drug loading efficiency was estimated to be 84.8% w/w. Drug loaded aquasomes were showed appreciable release rate was observed (55.93%) in 7 hrs which indicated that the drug bound on the surface of aquasomes can be released easily. The data obtained were compared with those obtained for 5% dithranol cream prepared using the same base. It was found that consistency index of aquasome based cream was more than the consistency of plain cream. It may be due to incorporation of particulate carrier system in the base. In in vitro drug release studies from both the creams it was observed that in comparison of plain cream aquasomes based dithranol cream showed slow and controlled drug release (%) cumulative drug release from plain cream was dithranol 54.68% after 8 hrs and for aquasome based cream was 43.50% after same time.

Keywords: Aquasomes; self assembling carrier system; nanoparticles.