%0 Journal Article
%T Design and Evaluation of Voriconazole Eye Drops for the Treatment of Fungal Keratitis
%A Sakshi Malhotra
%A Anubha Khare
%A Kanchan Grover
%A Inderbir Singh
%A Pravin Pawar
%J Journal of Pharmaceutics
%D 2014
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2014/490595
%X Voriconazole is a novel antifungal agent with excellent broad spectrum activity commercially available for oral and intravenous administration. The purpose of this study was to prepare ophthalmic formulation of hydroxypropyl beta cyclodextrin (HP- -CD) based voriconazole containing benzalkonium chloride BAK and EDTA with or without viscosity modifiers and study its permeation characteristics through freshly excised goat cornea. The results were observed that viscosity and force of bioadhesion of the voriconazole HP- -CD solutions containing xanthan gum (XG) are more as compared to polyvinyl alcohol. The results revealed that voriconazole drop containing PVA provided least viscosity and higher corneal permeation of drug, while drop formulated with XG had maximum viscosity and least permeation. The HP- -CD based voriconazole (1.5%) ophthalmic formulation containing xanthan gum (1.5), preserved with BAK and EDTA, could provide shelf life of 2 years. The microbiological studies showed that voriconazole ophthalmic solution containing xanthan gum shows better antifungal activity as compared to voriconazole and xanthan gum alone. Thus, it can be concluded that HP- -CD based voriconazole (1.5%, pH 7.0) ophthalmic solution containing BAK and EDTA with viscosity modifier XG provided maximum precorneal residence time as compared to other viscosity modifiers and polyvinyl alcohol provided less precorneal residence time than other viscosity modifiers. 1. Introduction The inflammatory disorders of the eye parts are the manifestations of the bacterial, fungal and viral infections. Staphylococcus aureus (due to injury), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (may be due to contact lens), Streptococcus, herpes simplex type I, varicella zoster, Cytomegalovirus (CMV), adenovirus, Candida species, and Actinomyces israelii are the major bacterial, viral, and fungal organisms that infect the different parts of the eyeball causing decreased vision, pain, and red eyes and may even lead to blindness [1]. Fungal keratitis is one of the major causes of ophthalmic mycosis, accounting for more than 50% of proven ophthalmic mycoses in some countries. Fungal keratitis is usually characterized by a corneal epithelial defect and inflammation of the corneal stroma. If untreated, fungal keratitis can lead to corneal scarring and vision loss. Fungal keratitis is most common in tropical regions and developing countries, where it constitutes over 50% of keratitis. The ultimate goal in the treatment of fungal keratitis is to conserve vision. This requires timely diagnosis of the infection and administration
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jphar/2014/490595/