Formulation Development and Evaluation of Ethosome of Stavudine

Abstract:

The main objective of the present work was to develop transdermal delivery of stavudine, a hydrophobic drug used for the treatment of AIDS, from ethosomes. All the system were characterized for vesicle morphology, particle size and entrapment efficiency by Scanning Electron Microscopy , Transmission Electron Microscopy, Differential light scattering and centrifugation respectively. The effect of different formulation variable on skin permeation of stavudine was studied via synthetic semipermeable membrane or skin of new born mice by using diffusion cell. The selected system were incorporated into HPMC gel and evaluated for both drug permeation and mice skin deposition. The optimized ethosomal formulation showed transdermal flux 25.01±0.34 ìg/cm²/hr across rat skin as compared to 2.98±0.21ìg/cm2/hr for plane drug solution, 4.28±0.54 ìg/cm²/hr for hydroethanolic solution and 9.7±0/21 ìg/cm2/hr for classical liposome. Finally it was concluded from the study that, ethosomes can increase the transdermal flux, prolong the release and present an attractive route for sustained delivery of stavudine.

Key words: Ethosome, Transdermal Flux, Stavudine, Transmission Electron Microscopy.