Preparation and evaluation of an Emulgel of Hydroxyzine hydrochloride

Abstract

Hydroxyzine hydrochloride is effective in the treatment of urticaria and other allergic skin disorders. Hydroxyzine hydrochloride emulgel potentially enhances drug penetration into the stratum corneum and localizes the drug within the dermo-epidermal layers. Emulgel was formulated by first preparing the emulsion using fixed oils and non-ionic surfactants, and then incorporated into a gel base. Emulsions were primarily optimized using non-ionic surfactants, Span 60 and Tween 20 and gel was optimized using Carbopol 940, HPMC K100M and xanthan gum. These optimized formulations were studied for in vitro drug release studies followed by ex vivo, skin irritation and stability studies. The optimized o/w emulgel was compared with the w/o emulgel which showed the in vitro release of 76.7% and ex vivo studies showed 42.3% release at the end of 8th hr. The ex vivorelease of optimized HESX (o/w emulgel) formulation was compared with the HESX1 (w/o emulgel) formulation which showed the release of 53% and 42.3% release respectively. The emulgel formulation HESX showed irritation potential of '0', thus proving to be non-irritant. Hence, it can be concluded that o/w emulgel formulation of hydroxyzine hydrochloride showed better release than the w/o emulgel.