Formulation, Development and Physicochemical Characterization of Diclofenac Topical Emulgel

Abstract

Emulgel is one of the convenient and promising topical drug delivery approaches especially for the hydrophobic drugs. The purpose of the study was to prepare emulgel of diclofenac sodium using polymers namely Carbopol-934, hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose and sodium carboxy methyl cellulose and studied for their drug release from the gel formulations. The 1% Carbopol-934 formulated gel was found highest drug content (101.72%) than the other formulations. The pH of the formulations ranged from 6.8 to 7.2 and viscosity is from 36,000 to 51,000 cps. Extrudability of carbopol and HPMC gels were excellent than the SodiumCMC gel. In vitro drug release was observed highest (64.91%) for the formulation A2 (1% Carbopol-934) and was improved further on the addition of DMSO as a permeation enhancer. In the same time, 1.0% carbopol-940 also showed a similar release pattern, but the release was lesser (51.47%) and the release of HPMC and sodium CMC gels was much lesser. The study revealed that formulation A2 with 1% Carbopol-934 was observed to be the best formulation having good in vitro release profile, stability and bioavailability among all prepared formulations. Hence, the study brought to a close idea that the emulgel A2 was a successful outcome as a topical anti-inflammatory and analgesic formulation among all.