Abstract

FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF TRANSDERMAL PATCHES OF DICLOFENAC

Bijay Kumar Sahoo*, Amiya Kanta Mishra

ABSTRACT

Transdermal drug delivery system is a therapeutic system designed to transfer drugs through intact skin for systemic treatment. It offers controlled drug release pattern by a simple application to the skin's surface, eliminating the vagaries influencing the gastrointestinal absorption associated with oral administration and providing for more efficient drug utilization. The purpose of this research was to develop a matrix-type Transdermal therapeutic system containing drug Diclofenac with different ratios of hydrophilic (hydroxyl propyl methyl cellulose) and hydrophobic (ethyl cellulose) polymeric systems by the solvent evaporation technique and by using Glycerol as plasticizer. Different concentrations of oleic acid and isopropyl myristate were used to enhance the transdermal permeation of Diclofenac. Formulated transdermal films were physically evaluated with regard to thickness, weight variation, drug content, flatness, tensile strength, folding endurance, percentage of moisture content and water vapour transmission rate. All prepared formulations indicated good physical stability. In-vitro permeation studies of formulations were performed by using Franz diffusion cells. Formulation prepared with hydrophilic polymer containing permeation enhancer showed best in-vitro skin permeation through rat skin (Wistar albino rat) as compared to all other formulations. From the in vitro skin permeation study, it was confirmed that release of formulations F1 and F5 after 24 hrs was found to be higher than other formulations (F2, F3, F4 and F6). The kinetic study data also proves that which follows zero order kinetics for controlled release of drug to maintain drug concentration in better manner. These results indicate that theformulation containing 15 % of oleic acid with 10 % Isopropyl myristate give better penetration of Diclofenac through rat skin.

Keywords: Diclofenac, Transdermal Film, Permeation enhancer.