Management of  rheumatic disorders  are limited by the inability to provide long-term drug delivery  due to the irritation to gastric mucosa and poor availability of drugs, which may be overcome by prolonging the drug release. The nanostructured carriers (NP)based gel was developed as potential topical system for  aceclofenac topical delivery. In the present study, chitosan-sodium alginate  nanoparticles were investigated  using a  novel gel base for the prolonged topical delivery NSAID aceclofenac. A modified ionotropic gelation method was used to produce aceclofenac loaded nano particulate systems. Drug content, particle properties such as size, size distribution and zeta potential were determined. The nano particulate system was encapsulated using a novel hydrophilic polymer pemulen in different proportions. The nanoparticles remained within the colloidal range and it was uniformly dispersed  in pemulen gel preparation. The gels were evaluated for spredability, extrudability and in vitro, in vivo studies. The optimized formulations were characterized by FT-IR, DSC. In conclusion,  nanoparticle based gel could be a promising vehicle for topical delivery of  aceclofenac and  the novel gel base pemulen can be  used for the  incorporation  topical drugs.

 

Key words: Pemulen, aceclofenac, sodium alginate, transdermal, chitosan, nanoparticle, topical delivery, gel.