Mupirocin Loaded Microemulsion Based Gel for Effective Treatment of Burns

The main objective of the research work was to develop microemulsion based gel of mupirocin in order to achieve a better permeation rate and high drug retention into the deeper layers of the skin for effective treatment of burns. Mupirocin is a topical antibiotic isolated from pseudomonas fluorescens which is effective against Gram positive bacteria. Saturation solubility studies were conducted and pseudo-ternary phase diagrams were constructed for microemulsion formulations of lavender oil, rose oil and tea tree oil using tween 80 and ethanol as surfactant and co-surfactant respectively. Developed microemulsions were characterized for various parameters such as pH, viscosity, thermodynamic stability studies, in vitro, ex vivo diffusion and drug retention studies. From pseudo-ternary phase diagrams formulation LMF8 was considered to be best and was incorporated into a gel base. Mupirocin loaded microemulsion gel showed drug permeation of more than 93 % and 63% for in vitro and ex vivo studies conducted for 6 h. The drug retention in dermis was found to be 46.4% for LMG8 while controlled gel showed drug retention of only 8.9 % through porcine ear skin. This indicated that mupirocin loaded microemulsions showed effective retention of drug in skin layers. Zeta potential was found to be - 43.5 with a polydispersity index of 0.171 which indicate good stability of microemulsion formulation.