Nanolipid Gel of an Antimycotic Drug for Treating Vulvovaginal Candidiasis-Development and Evaluation.

This paper focuses on the development and evaluation of mucoadhesive vaginal gel of fluconazole using nanolipid carriers to enhance tissue deposition in treating vulvovaginal candidiasis. Treatment of vulvovaginal candidiasis includes antimycotic agents prescribed for 1 to 7 days or longer, in relapse either orally or topically. The delivery of fluconazole as nanolipid carriers in vaginal gel can be proposed as suitable alternative to the existing conventional formulations to improve the patient acceptability, compliance and localized drug action. The nanolipid carriers of fluconazole were prepared by phase inversion temperature technique and incorporated into Carbopol 974P as gelling polymer. GRAS excipients selected and optimized were Precirol ATO 5, oleic acid and Kolliphor RH 40 to produce nanolipid dispersions. Stable nanolipid dispersions were developed using sodium dodecyl sulfate as the charge inducer. The optimized nanolipid dispersion of fluconazole had particle size, polydispersity index and zeta potential value of 158.33 ± 2.55 nm, 0.278 ± 0.003 and - 27.33 ± 0.40 mV, respectively and the average entrapment of fluconazole in the lipid carriers was found to be 67.24 ± 0.87%. The optimized vaginal gel had satisfactory mucoadhesive strength and rheological properties to facilitate vaginal application. The fluconazole release from the gel was sustained showing 30.69 ± 1.02% drug deposition in the porcine vaginal mucosa at the end of 8 h with improved antifungal activity against Candida albicans during well diffusion studies. The optimized gel was non-irritant to the vaginal mucosa of female Wistar rats with no signs of erythema or edema.