Carbopol hydrogels for topical administration: treatment of wounds

Abstract

The very positive effect of hydrogels on wounds and enhanced wound healing process has been proven. Hydrogels provide a warm, moist environment for wound that makes it heal faster in addition to their useful mucoadhesive properties. Moreover, hydrogels can be used as carriers for liposomes containing variety of drugs, such as antimicrobial drugs. This will provide a depot release of drug to the wound bed. In order to optimize the liposomal hydrogel formulation, texture properties responsible for the retention of gel on the wound, need to be well characterized. Characterizing the behaviour of Carbopol hydrogels by texture analyser as described in this Thesis is a new method. As a first step, we evaluated the effects of each parameter used in texture analysis in order to establish reproducible measuring conditions. Behaviour of Carbopol Ultrez 10 hydrogels was studied in regard to the polymer concentration and pH of the gel. Accelerated stability tests were conducted for both Carbopol gels and liposomal Carbopol gels. Chloramphenicol was used as a drug model to be entrapped in liposomes and its release from liposomal hydrogels was studied. Carbopol hydrogels are stable formulations and easy to produce. Their texture properties are affected by the pH values of the gel. Accelerated stability indicated that the attention needs to be given to the gel composition. When incorporating liposomal dispersions, there is a limit of proportion of the dispersion which could be incorporated without affecting the original properties of the gel. Liposomal Carbopol hydrogels show potential to be used as drug delivery system.