Abstract

TRANSDERMAL DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEMS OF LOSARTAN POTASSIUM: DESIGN AND IN VITRO CHARACTERIZATION

Abstract

The present study was designed to develop the suitable film formulation of losartan potassium containing enhancers for transdermal use. Polymeric film formulations were prepared by employing eudragit RL100 (ERL) and gumcopal (GC) as a film former by solvent casting method. The film preparations were evaluated for physical properties such as uniformity of drug content, thickness and moisture uptake capacity and characterized by IR. Release and skin permeation kinetics of losartan potassium from film preparations were examined in the in vitro studies using a franz-type diffusion cell. The uniformity of drug content was evidenced by the low standard deviation values for each film preparation. The moisture uptake capacity and drug release rate increased with the increase of ERL in each preparation. Plasticizer examined in the present study also increased the moisture uptake capacity and release rate of losartan potassium from the film preparations. In vitro skin permeation study showed that dibutylphthalate was the best among the plasticizer examined in the present study and suggested that the suitable compositions of film preparation would be GC:ERL=1:4 with 10%w/w dibutylphthalate as plasticizer and 10%w/w urea as enhancer, which provided maximum in vitro release of drug.

Keywords: Transdermal, Losartan potassium, Plasticizer, Penetration enhancer.