PDD 12: Semi-Solid Dosage Forms – Dermatological Vehicles Flashcards
What are the 2 components of the dermal drug delivery system?
(both should be physically, chemically, and microbiologically stable)
- drug
- excipients – humectants, emollients, penetration enhancers, preservatives
Describe characteristics of physical stability of drugs and excipients. (5)
- viscosity and extrudability is maintained
- no loss of water or other volatile components
- homogenous phase distribution
- no change in particle size distribution of the dispersed phase
- release of drug unchanged
Describe characteristics of chemical stability of drugs and excipients. (3)
- visual appearance (colour) maintained
- no development of odour or loss of fragrance
- pH maintained
Describe characteristics of microbiological stability of drugs and excipients. (2)
- no growth
- no development of odour
What are the challenges associated with dermal drug delivery in pharmacy? (3)
- self-medication – numerous products available OTC, different formulations for the same drug
- non-compliance and overuse
- addition of drugs (ie. active ingredients) to existing products
What are humectants?
draw water from the dermis into the epidermis as opposed to drawing it from the atmosphere – acts to hold moisture in the striatum corneum
- ie. urea, glycerin, PEG, lactic acid, propylene glycol, sorbitol, retinol (vitamin A), pantothenol (vitamin B5)
- ie. application of 10% urea cream can double the amount of water in the striatum corneum
What are emollients?
provide an occlusive layer and trap insensible perspiration, and also mimic the effects of intercellular lipids, restoring suppleness of the skin
- ie. oils, lipids, waxes, fatty acids, greasy ointments
What are penetration enhancers?
cosolvents and surfactants
Penetration Enhancers
What are cosolvents?
influence intercellular lipids
- ie. ethanol, propylene glycol
Penetration Enhancers
What are surfactants?
lecithin (phosphatidylcholine and fatty acid diglycerides) may alter intercellular lipids
Penetration Enhancers
What is dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)?
very powerful solvent that penetrates skin readily – drugs dissolved in DMSO will also penetrate the skin
- theory: stratum corneum retains DMSO and drugs then dissolve in the DMSO, alters keratin conformation, distorts and swells stratum corneum
What are preservatives
creams and lotions containing oils and/or water require preservatives to prevent
microbial growth
- ie. methyl/propyl parabens, benzyl alcohol, chlorobutanol, chlorocresol, benzalkonium chloride
What are the 4 types of dermatological bases?
- oleagenous base
- absorption base
- emulsion base
- water soluble base
What is an oleagenous base (hydrocarbon base)?
oil
- used for their emollient effect (do not allow escape of moisture)
- water-free and can absorb very small amounts of water
- retained on skin for prolonged periods
- difficult to wash off with water
- ie. petrolatum (vaseline) – mix of semisolid hydrocarbons from petroleum
- ie. white petrolatum – decolourized petrolatum
Emulsions Recap
- since the outer phase of the O/W emulsion is water, we can wash it off with water – however, there are still oil droplets in the “wash-off”
- to make an emulsion thermodynamically stable, we normally use surfactants
- surfactant stabilizes the oil droplet – if we add more and more water, then we will dilute the surfactant (rinse it out of the droplet surface), and it cannot stabilize the droplet anymore
What is an absorption base?
oil to water in oil
- permit incorporation of water
- insoluble in water – greasy
- useful as emollients – not as good as hydrocarbon bases
- useful to incorporate aqueous solution of drugs
What are the 2 types of absorption bases?
- anhydrous but hydrophilic
- W/O emulsions
Absorption Bases
What are anhydrous but hydrophilic bases?
- incorporate water to form W/O emulsions
- contains emulsifier only
- ie. hydrophilic petrolatum, anhydrous lanolin
Absorption Bases
What are W/O emulsion bases?
- can absorb more water
- contains emulsifier and water
- ie. lanolin (hydrous), cold cream
Absorption Bases
What are some examples? (5)
- hydrophilic petrolatum
- aquabase
- simple ointment
- eucerin
- nivea
Absorption Bases
Hydrophilic Petrolatum
- components
- type of absorption base
- white wax, cholesterol, stearyl alcohol, white petrolatum
- forms W/O emulsion
Absorption Bases
Aquabase
- components
- type of absorption base
- petrolatum, mineral oil, mineral wax, lanolin alcohol, cholesterol
- forms W/O emulsion
Absorption Bases
Simple Ointment
- components
- type of absorption base
- wool fat, hard paraffin, cetostearyl alcohol, white soft paraffin
- forms W/O emulsion