Romanian Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences

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INFLUENCE OF FORMULATION FACTORS ON THE PHYSICO- CHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF DERMAL MICROEMULSIONS PREPARED WITH SUCROSE ESTERS

MANUELA HORTOLOMEI, IULIANA POPOVICI, LACRAMIOARA OCHIUZ

“Grigore T. Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Iasi, Romania, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Universitatii Street, No. 16, Zip code 700115, Iasi, Romania

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The objective of the present paper was to study the influence of some formulation factors – such as the surfactant: co-surfactant ratio and the proportion of hydrophilic: lipophilic phase - on the conditions of formulation, preparation and physicochemical characteristics of avocado oil dermal microemulsions obtained with sucrose esters. In the first phase of the study we prepared three series of formulations where the proportion of surfactant: co-surfactant (sucrose laurate: Transcutol) (SL: TC) varied as follows: 1: 1, 1: 3 and 3: 1, respectively. In the second phase of the study we selected and prepared five microemulsion formulations labeled F1 - F5, in which the SL:TC (1: 1) percentage was constant, along the dilution line 70, while the hydrophilic: lipophilic phase ratio varied in the following proportions: 1: 5, 1: 2, 1: 1, 2: 1 and 5: 1, respectively. The microemulsions were characterized by the determination of the following parameters: electrical conductivity, rheological behaviour, pH, transepidermal water loss coefficient. The data obtained demonstrated that: the analyzed formulations belong to the Newtonian fluid flow category; electrical conductivity increased directly proportional to the percentage of hydrophilic phase in the formula and the pH was in the near-physiological range; F3 - F5 formulations containing > 15% hydrophilic phase in the formulation had a strong moisturizing effect. The microemulsions were well tolerated on the skin and no irritant effect was recorded.