Development and evaluation of indomethacin liposomal systems

DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF INDOMETHACIN LIPOSOMAL SYSTEMS (Abstract): Aim: Treating the inflammation with oral indomethacin might be in some situa-tions inadequate for patients that cannot dispense the medication on their own, a fact that conduct to the necessity to develop new pharmaceutical formulations administered through different pathways, such as the transdermal application. To trespass the skin layers, this study aimed to develop and evaluate an indomethacin liposome formulation that will be in-cluded in a Carbopol gel, subsequently. Material and methods: To develop indomethacin liposomes egg lecithin and cholesterol were used in order to confer membrane stability and elasticity. Two technologies of liposome-sizing were used: extrusion and sonication, the ob-tained vesicles being incorporated in a Carbopol gel. The in vitro release profiles were con-ducted on both liposomes and gels using the Franz cell method and two types of membranes (M1 and M2). Results: Liposome sizing through extrusion proved to be a better method compared to the sonication one. The microscopic evaluation of the liposomal vesicles showed that through extrusion smaller liposomes are obtained, a fact that is reflected also in their capacity for API releasing. Conclusions: Via the in vitro releasing study differences of 10% were observed regarding the amounts of API liberated, through both the extruded lipo-somal dispersion and the gel containing this dispersion in comparison with the sonicated lip-osomes. The type of releasing membrane used influenced the amount of API released, ob-serving a higher concentration of API released after 8 hours through M2 (the skin-like mem-brane)