Development of gellan gum containing formulations for transdermal drug delivery: Component evaluation and controlled drug release using temperature responsive nanogels.

Abstract Enhancing skin permeation is important for development of new transdermal drug delivery formulations. This is particularly relevant for non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). To address this, semisolid gel and solid hydrogel film formulations containing gellan gum as a gelling agent were developed and the effects of penetration enhancers (dimethyl sulfoxide, isopropyl alcohol and propylene glycol) on transport of the NSAID diclofenac sodium was quantified. A transwell diffusion system was used to accelerate formulation development. After 4 h, diclofenac flux from a superior formulation of the semisolid gel or the solid hydrogel film was 130 ± 11 μg/cm 2  h and 108 ± 7 μg/cm 2  h, respectively, and significantly greater than that measured for a currently available diclofenac sodium topical gel (30 ± 4 μg/cm 2  h, p  2  h, p