Abstract

Clotrimazole is an effective antifungal agent, mainly marketed as topical preparations. Its high water insolubility may limit its permeation into the skin. Hence, in vitro release studies of Clotrimazole from five different marketed cream formulations were carried out through the membrane and without the membrane according to a specially designed protocol. The receptor media used for the permeation studies through the membrane were distilled water, 40% PEG 400 in distilled water, 30% IPA in acetate buffer and IPM, whereas in the membraneless technique IPM was used because of its bipolar properties mimicking the skin. A specially fabricated diffusion cell was used for studies through the membrane and a modified dissolution apparatus was used for the membraneless technique. From the results obtained, it was observed that in the permeability studies through the membrane, the drug release was maximum in IPM compared to the other media in case of all the formulations and the percentage drug release obtained through the membrane was significantly greater than that obtained without the membrane in all the cases (P<0.001).