Formulation and evaluation of cox-2 inhibitor (etoricoxib) loaded ethyl cellulose nanoparticles for topical drug delivery

Abstract

The aim of this investigation was to formulate, characterize and evaluate etoricoxib (ET) loaded polymeric nanoparticles for topical delivery. For nanoprecipitation method, ethyl cellulose (EC) was used as polymers. All the formulations were prepared by varying the drug and polymer concentrations. The obtained nanoparticles were evaluated for yield, drug content, entrapment efficiency, loading capacity and in-vitro drug release. Comparative study was performed among the formulations of ethyl cellulose. For the formulation of the gel, carbopol 934 was used as a gelling base. By comparison, F3 formulation of ethyl cellulose was found to be the best with the highest entrapment efficiency of 79.1%, the smallest mean particle diameter (538 nm), a higher stability (-43.8 mV) and the ability to control the release for 12 h with 87.1% drug release. F3 formulation was incorporated into gel F3G. Based on the results, it could be concluded that F3G formulation of etoricoxib topical gel prepared with ethyl cellulose was found to be more efficient with the highest spreadability of 41.22 g.cm/sec and was able to sustain the drug release for about 12 h with a cumulative release of 79.1%.