Aims: Study the release of fluconazole from different O/W creams and PEG ointments.
Study Design: In this study, different formulations were prepared with changing one of
the added excipients and study the effect of this change on the drug release and then the
selected formulations were subjected to antifungal activity study.
Place and Duration of Study: Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutics,
Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt, between December 2011 and March 2012.
Methodology: O/W creams were prepared with changing either fatty alcohol type or the
concentration of the added emulsifying agent. Also, the PEG ointments were prepared
with changing the type of the liquid PEG (low molecular weight). Then, the viscosity and
the fluconazole release from the prepared formulations were studied.
Results: Changing the fatty alcohol type from stearyl to cetostearyl and cetyl alcohol in
the O/W creams caused an increase in the viscosity and a decrease in the drug release.
Also, changing the liquid PEG from PEG 400 to PEG 600 resulted in an increase in the
formulation viscosity and subsequent decrease in the drug release. Both F1 and F6
showed a good inhibition to the fungal growth against Candida albicans and Trichophyton
mentagrophyte using cup plate method, also PEG base showed a slight fungal growth
inhibition.
Conclusion: Results obtained showed that the PEG ointment formulations exhibited
higher fluconazole release after three hours over the O/W cream formulations. Also, the
nature of the PEG base may be adjunctive to the efficacy of the antifungal agent