Topical Gel Incorporated with Non-ionic Surfactant Based Solid Lipid Microspheres of Ketoprofen: Physicochemical Analysis and Anti- Inflammatory Evaluation

Objective: The present study was aimed at the fabrication and characterization of solid lipid based microspheres (SLM) of Ketoprofen (KPF) and comparing its anti-inflammatory potential with the marketed formulation. Methods: Stearic acid as a lipid and tween 20, 80, span 20 and 80 as surfactants (at various concentrations) were utilized for formulation of topical delivery. Microparticles were successfully fabricated (0.71-3.12 μm) by hot melt microencapsulation technique and were characterised by photomicroscope, FTIR, scanning electron surface morphology, particle size analysis, zeta potential, fluorescent microscopy and In-vitro drug release studies followed by In-vitro and In-vivo anti-inflammatory studies. Results: Results revealed that tween 80 resulted in exceptional KPF entrapment efficiency of 82.6% with spherical rough surface morphology. Invitro drug release showed the initial burst release of 47% upto 2h followed by sustained release of 70% for 12h. By employing drug release kinetic modelling, formulations were found to obey Higuchi model and Korsmeyer-Peppas model. Further the In-vitro permeation study of optimized gel formulation represented better drug uptake through rat skin in comparison to marketed product. Finally, SLMs were found to possess superior Invitro and In-vivo anti-inflammatory potentials when compared to marketed formulation. Conclusion: SLMs proved to be promising drug carrier system for KPF topical delivery as they possessed the desirable particle size with high ability for drug entrapment with sustained anti-inflammatory effect.