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Fatima Ramzan Ali [1] and Muhammad Harris Shoaib [1] and Rabia Ismail Yousuf [1] and Syed Abid Ali [2] and Muhammad Suleman Imtiaz [1] and Lubna Bashir [1] and Shazia Naz [1]

Academic Editor: Sanyog Jain

1, Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan, uok.edu.pk

2, H.E.J. Research Institute of Chemistry, International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan, uok.edu.pk

Received May 7, 2017; Revised Jun 25, 2017; Accepted Jul 4, 2017

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

1. Introduction

Transdermal systems deliver drugs across skin into systemic circulation and are considered as one of the suitable routes for drug administration. These can be used for numerous clinical indications [1]. Human skin provides an effective barrier against chemical penetration of drugs, and minimizing this hindrance is the target of most of the transdermal preparations [2].

Microemulsions are effective drug delivery vehicles for topical and transdermal preparations [3]. These preparations increase cutaneous delivery of drug by increasing solubility of both hydrophilic and lipophilic molecules; as a result concentration gradient is increased towards skin. The components of microemulsion also have permeation enhancing property [4]. Therefore, microemulsions can be effectively used to enhance the permeation of drug across skin.

Reservoir-type transdermal patches enclose drug in a rate-controlling membrane and deliver drug by zero-order rate process and possess certain advantages over other types of patches; such that they have design flexibility and effective control on release rates [5]. In the current study, a reservoir-type transdermal patch consisting of dexibuprofen microemulsion was formulated for effective and controlled delivery of drug through skin. Ibuprofen, an arylpropionic acid NSAID, possesses antipyretic, analgesic, and anti-inflammatory activities and is considered as over-the-counter drug. S(+)-isomer also called dexibuprofen is more potent as compared to racemic ibuprofen [6]. Ulceratic perforation and gastrointestinal bleeding are common adverse effects of NSAIDs. Dyspepsia is also commonly observed side-effect of ibuprofen and NSAIDs. The symptoms of dyspepsia include heartburn, abdominal pain, anorexia, and distention [7].

Recent efforts are focused on formulating a reservoir-type transdermal patch filled with microemulsion of dexibuprofen. Dexibuprofen having log P value of 3.97...

  
 
 

  
           
 
 
           
 
 
           
 
 
           
 
 
 
           
 
 
 
 
           
 
 
 
 

  

   

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