In vitro release of Indian penny wort, walnut, and turmeric from topical preparations using two different types of membranes

Abstract

Herbal remedies like the Indian penny wort, walnut, and turmeric are useful in traditional medicine for the treatment of many skin diseases, especially eczema. The aim of the present study was to formulate a microemulsion, a gel, and an ointment containing these plant extracts and to evaluate their in vitro release using markers. The in vitro release was assessed using Franz cells and two different types of membranes, nylon and cellulose. The three formulations showed different releases, except for the microemulsion and gel of Indian penny wort and walnut, which had similar release profiles. The study showed that the nylon membrane had a faster release than the cellulose membrane. However, first-order release kinetics for all three formulations were only observed for the cellulose membrane. In this study, the cellulose membrane showed more discriminative power to differentiate among the three tested herbs and their formulations. This demonstrates that it is important to investigate the impact of the membrane on the release pattern of different formulations. In vitro diffusion cell experiments can be used to develop improved formulations of traditional medicines.