Abstract

FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF EFINACONAZOLE MICROEMULSION WITH EUCALYPTUS CITRODORA OIL

Mamatha G. T., Mahendra Kumar M. S.* and Pavankumar

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Abstract

The aim of present study is preparation and evaluation Efinaconazole microemulsion along with eucalyptus citrodora oil to achieve the synergistic antifungal effect. Efinaconazole is a new triazole antifungal, developed for topical treatment of mild to moderate onychomycosis. higher concentration required to achieve the therapeutic effect, essential oil is used in the formulation to reduce the concentration of drug and achieve the better therapeutic effect. We developed a Pseudoternary phase diagram to find out the microemulsion existence regions by using eucalyptus citrodora oil (oil), tween 20 (surfactant), propylene glycol (co-surfactant) by water titration method (ternaryplot.com software). We prepared 3 formulations (ECM1-ECM3) by changing the oil and Smix ratios. Developed microemulsions was characterized for various parameters like %transmittance, viscosity, pH, drug content, surface morphology, zetapotential, in vitro drug release study, release kinetics study. The optimum formulation ECM3 showed higher %transmittance 99.54±0.26, lesser viscosity 12.15±0.24cps, comfortable pH 6.61±0.016, high % drug content 98.80±0.12. 287nm of globule size, zetapotential found to be -6.03mV, and high in vitro drug release 91.66% after 6 hrs and fallows the zero-order kinetics. The optimized formulation further converted into Microemulgel by dispersing the microemulsion to 1% Carbopol gel base and evaluated for various parameters. The antifungal efficacy was carried out for optimized microemulsion and its Microemulgel by agar well diffusion method against Trichophyton rubrum and compared with standard drug which showed ECM3 and ECM3-G have a better antifungal effect than standard drug, it proved that the synergistic effect could be achieved by both eucalyptus citrodora oil and Efinaconazole drug by microemulsion formulation.

Keywords: Microemulsion, Efinaconazole, eucalyptus citrodora oil, onychomycosis.