FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF SIMVASTATIN LOADED MICROEMULSION BASED GEL: IN VITRO CHARACTERIZATION

The Simvastatin loaded microemulsion based gel was formulated and in-vitro evaluation was done for the treatment of diabetic wound healing. Simvastatin is BCS class II drug which promotes wound healing by increasing the production of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Microemulsions (MEs) are oil and water colloidal system stabilized by the mixture of surfactant and co-surfactant offering enhance skin permeability for both hydrophobic and hydrophilic drugs. At first, microemulsion (ME) was prepared by water titration method and the existence of ME region was determined using pseudo-ternary phase diagram. Formulations were prepared using oil (oleic acid), Tween 80 and PEG 400 as surfactant and co-surfactant. Optimization of formulation was done using 32 factorial designs. Carbopol 940 was used as gelling agent for preparing microemulsion gel. The formulations were evaluated for physical appearance globule size, polydispersity index, zeta potential, percent transmittance, thermodynamic stability, dilution test, drug content, and in vitro drug release. The optimized formulation of ME showed average globule size of 151 nm and the optimized ME gel had a homogeneous texture, showed good spreadability and in vitro drug release. The present study indicates the simvastatin loaded microemulsion gel could act as promising vehicle for topical drug delivery of drug for diabetic wound healing.