Romanian Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences

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SPIRONOLACTONE QUANTITATIVE DETERMINATION AND IN VITRO RELEASE STUDY FROM TOPICAL EMULSIONS

DUŠAN ILIĆ 1, MAJA CVETKOVIĆ 1, ANA ŽUGIĆ 2, SLAVICA SUNARIĆ 3, MARIJA TASIĆ- KOSTOV 1*

1 University of Niš-Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pharmacy, Niš, Serbia
2 Department for Pharmaceutical Research and Development, Institute for Medicinal Plant Research “Dr. Josif Pančić”, Belgrade, Serbia
3 University of Niš-Faculty of Medicine, Department of Chemistry, Niš, Serbia

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Topicals are often the first choice for treating skin diseases. Dermal absorption tests are applied to predict the ability of an active to permeate through the skin. Spironolactone has been used as a valuable off-label treatment option in both systemic and topical acne therapy. Alkyl polyglucoside (APG) based emulsions with spironolactone showed acceptable skin irritation profiles. The main goals of this study were to examine the content and release profile of spironolactone from APG-based emulsions. Four different APG-based emulsions were prepared as carriers for topical spironolactone; two contained glycolic acid in addition to spironolactone, to test its potential action as a penetration enhancer. The spironolactone content was determined by the HPLC method. An in vitro release study was performed using vertical Franz diffusion cells. Results showed that spironolactone release from the emulsions and permeation through the polycarbonate membrane depended on the APG emulsifier, as well as on the composition of the emulsion itself. It is also assumed that emulsions stabilized with arachidyl glucoside and arachidyl behenyl alcohol as emulsifiers can lead to extended release of incorporated spironolactone.