MICROEMULSION BASED TRANSDERMAL GELS OF GLIMEPIRIDE TO ENHANCE BIOAVAILABILITY: IN VITRO EVALUATION

The main aim of the current research work was to formulate and evaluate the microemulsion based transdermal gel for glimepiride. Saturation solubility studies of the drug were conducted in various solvents and oils. Labrafil M 1944 CS, Tween 80 and Transcutol P were selected as oil phase, surfactant and co surfactants respectively. Surfactant to co surfactant ratio was fixed as 1:2 in all the formulations. Microemulsion prepared with oil to smix ratio of 1:9 (F9) was found to be stable with the globule size of 55.9±6.54, and has more % of drug diffusion of 86.4±1.8 % within 6h and has been selected for the preparation of microemulsion based gel using carbopol 934 as gelling agent. The prepared gel has shown 93.74±2.3% drug release in 8h which was higher than control gel. Keywords: Microemulsion, gel, transdermal, glimepiride, carbopol.