Effects of PVA, PVP, and Glycerol on the Viscosity of a Transdermal Patch

Abstract

Transdermal patches find extensive application in both medicine and cosmetics, offering distinct functional properties based on their unique formulations. In this study, polymer film patches were developed using a mixture design methodology, incorporating polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP), glycerol (GLY), and deionized water (DW). To investigate the impact of the mixture on patch viscosity, seventeen different mixtures were designed using extreme vertices and were prepared through a simple casting technique. The special quartic model proved to be the most suitable for explaining the relationship between ingredients and predicting viscosity, as it demonstrated impressive statistical performance with a standard deviation of 296.237, an R-squared value of 99.80%, and a mean absolute percentage error of 4.24%. To validate the accuracy of our viscosity predictions, five mixture ratios were randomly selected from the contour plots, resulting in a mean absolute percentage error of 7.71%. In evaluating viscosity and mixture ratio, PVA demonstrated a significant influence compared to other constituents. Higher levels of PVP correlated with increased viscosity, whereas increased GLY concentration led to decreased viscosity. Additionally, the impact of GLY on viscosity diminishes with higher concentrations of PVP and PVA, aligning with the antagonistic terms PVP*GLY and PVA*GLY. Furthermore, antagonistic behavior was observed for the PVA*DW interactions, while synergistic tendencies were observed for the PVA*PVP interaction.