Development and Evaluation of Solid Lipid Nanoparticulate hydrogel of miconazole nitrate and its Anti-fungal activity

The aim of this study was to prepare a miconazole nitrate solid lipid nano particulate hydrogel and to evaluate its antifungal activity. By using a modified solvent injection technique, MN-loaded SLNs were produced and characterised in terms of particle size, entrapment efficiency etc., after incorporation of SLNS into hydrogels, rheological measurements were performed and in-vitro drug permeation tests were carried out using Franz diffusion technique. SLN dispersions exhibited average size between 975 ± 7.02 and 1945 ± 14.01 nm. All the dispersions had high entrapment efficiency ranging from 61.44 ± 0.14% to 82.35 ± 0.05%. The in vitro release study suggested that there was an inverse relationship between EE% and in vitro release. In 24 hrs the drug release was observed ranging from 74.95% to 91.40%. The kinetic analysis of all release profiles was found to follow Higuchi’s diffusion model. Agar well diffusion method was used for antifungal studies against Aspergillus Nigerand compared with 2% commercially available miconazole nitrate formulation. The mean zone of inhibition obtained by 1% miconazole nitrate loaded SLN was 24 mm. SLN formulation showed enhanced antifungal activity than thecommercially available formulation and concluded that SLN is a promising carrier system for topical delivery of miconazole nitrate.