STUDIES ON PENETRATION ENHANCERS IN CORPORATED CREAM OF CLOBETASOL-17-PROPIONATE: DEVELOPMENT AND IN VITRO EVALUATION

Topical corticosteroids have long been the chronic stage in the treatment of steroid responsive dermatitis. Creams containing 0.05% w/w Clobetasol-17-propionate (CP) as active ingredient are categorized as super potent class I topical dermatological corticosteroids. For the drug molecule to reach the cutaneous microcirculation, enhance, the systemic circulation, have to transverse both the lipophilic stratum cornium and much more viable epidermis. Penetration enhancers are thought to intact with one component of skin causing the stratum cornium to swell or leach out some of the structural component their by increasing the drug penetration to the barrier membrane. The current study was carried out to study the effect of various penetration enhancers such as oleic acid (OA), isopropyl myristate (IPM), polysorbate 80 (PS) and thymol (TM) on topical delivery of Clobetasol-17-propionate (CP) and was evaluated in-vitro using cellophane membrane as well as rat skin mounted in Franz diffusion cell. CP was analyzed spectrophotometrically at 240 nm. The efficiency of penetration enhancers to improvise topical delivery of CP was observed in the order of OA> IPM >PS>TM.