DESIGN AND CHARACTERIZATION OF TRANSFEROSOMAL GEL OF REPAGLINIDE

Abstract

The main aim of current investigation is to formulate and evaluate transferosomal gel for effective transdermal delivery of repaglinide. Repaglinide is an oral anti hyperglycemic agent used for the treatment of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). The pre formulation study was carried out initially in terms of identification (physical appearance, melting point and IR spectra), solubility study and lambda max determination. The transfersomes were formulated by modified hand shaking method using surfactant such as Span 80 and Tween 80 in various concentrations and evaluated for their vesicle shape and type, entrapment efficiency, % drug content and In vitro drug permeation study. The shapes of most repaglinide containing transfersomes were found to be spherical from SEM analysis. The % entrapment efficiency of deformable vesicles formulations were found to be in the range of 82.51 % to 87.69 %. Entrapment efficiency of the RT6 formulation was high (maximum 87.69 %). In-vitro skin permeation study studies showed that, transfersome gels were found to increase the skin permeation and deposition showing a controlled effect. Stability studies were performed for RT-6 Transferosomes to study effect of different temperature conditions on percent entrapment and optimized gel formulation to study content uniformity and physical appearance for a period of 3 months respectively. Finally, in light of the current data, it can be concluded that transferosomes were a promising candidate for transdermal delivery, to prolong the release and to improve the site specificity of the drug repaglinide.