DESIGN AND CHARACTERIZATION OF FLUCONAZOLE MICROEMULSION FORMULATED WITH LEMONGRASS OIL

The goal of the current investigation is to formulate Fluconazole loaded microemulsion (ME) with Lemongrass oil for deeper skin penetration and to obtain the dual benefit of drug and oil combination to improve antifungal efficacy of a drug with a reduced dose. We developed a Pseudo ternary phase diagram to identify the microemulsion zone by using the oil (clove oil), surfactant (Tween 20 and Tween 80), and co-surfactant (Propylene glycol) by water titration method. We formulated six different formulations (LM1 – LM6) by changing the oil/surfactant and cosurfactant ratio. The developed microemulsion formulation was characterized for various parameters % Transmittance, viscosity, pH, drug content, surface morphology, zeta potential, and in-vitro drug release study. The optimized microemulsion emulsion formulation is further converted into Microemulgel by dispersing the ME into 2% w/v Carbapol gel (LM-G) and further evaluated for various parameters. The antifungal efficacy was carried out for ME and Microemulgel by diffusion method against Candida albicans (MTCC no: 227) and compared with marketed gel which showed LM and LM-G have a better antifungal effect than marketed product, proved that the synergistic effect could be achieved by both clove oil and fluconazole drug by microemulsion formulation with deeper skin penetration effect.