IN VITRO RELEASE OF SULCONAZOLE NITRATE FROM OINTMENT BASES

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt

Abstract

The release rate of sulconazole nitrate, a new antimycotic drug, from 16 ointment formulations has been assessed. The effect of two liquid additives, viz, water and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) on the release rate was investigated. The most enhancing effect was, by far, exhibited by DMSO and was found to be dependent on the additive concentration. This enhancing effect was accounted for the increase in the drug solubility in presence of DMSO rather than water. As regard to the effect of ointment base on the release pattern of the drug, water soluble bases were the superior. This observation is attributed to the fact that sulconazole nitrate is freely soluble in those water soluble bases. The difference in the release rate values exhibited when the drug was formulated in the water soluble bases is almost due to the change in formulations viscosities. It is worthy to note that the release pattern of sulconazole nitrate from all the tested ointment formulations was in agreement with the well known Higuchi diffusional model.