Development of Niosomal Vesicles Loaded Mometasone Furoate Gel for Transdermal Delivery and its Evaluation.

Background: Mometasone Furoate (MF) is a corticosteroid (glucocorticoid) used to treat eczema, psoriasis, allergies, and rash on the skin; also used to reduce itching, redness, and swelling (inflammation). It has been reported that the bioavailability of MF is less than 11% when given via the nasal route. Encapsulating the drug in niosomes can improve the active pharmaceutical ingredient's bioavailability by enhancing both physical and biological stability.

Objective: The goal of the study is to develop, a non-ionic surfactant-based vesicular system, by loading mometasone furoate, and introducing it into a gel-based formulation by utilizing an appropriate gelling agent, and performing its evaluation.

Methods: The niosome vesicle was prepared by vacuum rotary evaporation method (Thin film hydration method). Gel was prepared using the dispersion method and in-vitro drug diffusion studies using Franz-diffusion cells.

Results: According to the results of the experiments conducted for the study, Mometasone Furoate niosomal gel was prepared utilizing Mometasone Furoate niosomes that were made using the thin film hydration process, Cholesterol, and Span 60, and loaded in various amounts of Carbopol as a geling agent. The niosomes' zeta potential was found to be -24 mV, showing that the formulation is stable. The polydispersity index (PDI) was found to be 0.409 and the average size of niosomes to be 252.7 nm. The performance of the gel of the optimized formulations containing 2% Carbopol showed in vitro diffusion for 7 hours and an increased flux rate as compared to the plain MF.

Conclusion: The experiments carried out during the study led to the conclusion that the thin-film hydration method was suitable for the formation of the MF-niosomes by using Span 60 and Cholesterol (2:1). The gel formulation containing 2% Carbopol indicated better in vitro diffusion following the Higuchi model across all niosomal gel formulations. Niosomal gel can be regarded as the best vesicular carrier for the efficient distribution of mometasone furoate via the transdermal route.