Efficacy Assessment of Celecoxib Oil Drops Versus Arachidonic Acid Stimulated Ophthalmic Inflammation in Rabbits

The most comfortable approach to deliver an active pharmaceutical ingredient to the eye has been via topical instillation of aqueous drops. However, the aqueous drops suffer a major setback due to the rapid drainage leading to loss of drug. The aim of the present work was to formulate oil preparations of celecoxib in different oils. Partition behavior, trans-corneal permeation, viscosity, in vivo anti-inflammatory study and gamma scintigraphy of the preparations were investigated. Incorporation of benzyl alcohol resulted in a significant increase in drug permeation across the cornea (p < 0.05). The in vivo efficacy of optimized castor oil formulation was found to be better than control as well as CXB-aqueous suspensions in arachidonic acid triggered eye swelling model in rabbits. Further, results of gamma scintigraphy also indicated prolonged retention. Therefore, the oil eye drops may be a promising alternative, to aqueous eye drops circumventing poor retention in management of ocular ailments.