Formulation and evaluation of topical hydrogel containing antifungal drug

Terbinafine hydrochloride is an antifungal drug used in the treatment of fungal infections. The oral use of Terbinafine hydrochloride is not recommended as it has many potential side effects and undergoes hepatic first pass metabolism. This study was conducted to formulate and evaluate Terbinafine hydrochloride topical hydrogel for treatment of fungal infection of skin. The gel was formulated by using different gelling agents like HPMC, Sodium CMC and Polaxomer in three different concentrations. The prepared hydrogel formulations were evaluated for physico chemical parameters like physical appearance, pH, skin irritation, drug release, drug content and rheological parameters like spredability and extrudability. Antifungal activity of the prepared gels was evaluated using Candida as model fungus. The in vitro drug release from gels was evaluated using Franz diffusion cell containing cellophane membrane with phosphate buffer pH 5.8 as the receptor medium. Drug-excipients compatibility studies were performed by DSC and FT-IR analysis. All gel formulations showed acceptable physico chemical and rheological properties and results were found to be within the limits. The drug release was found to decrease with increase in polymer concentration. Among all the gel formulations Polaxomer showed superior drug release than followed by HPMC and sodium CMC. Formulation F4 shows the highest antifungal activity. Drug-excipients compatibility studies showed that there no interaction between the drug ad selected excipients.