IN-VITRO OCCLUSION STUDIES OF SOLID LIPID NANOPARTICLES LOADED HYDROGEL BY WATER VAPOUR PERMEABILITY ANALYSIS

Solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) offer sustained release of drug into skin and work as drug depot within epidermal space. This inherent property is greatly employed for topical application of several drugs. Skin penetration of various drugs as well as cosmetic products depends upon skin hydration. Trans-epidermal water loss causes drying of skin thereby making stratum corneum more impermeable to most topical drugs. Solid lipid nanoparticles being smaller in size offer less inter-particles space for water evaporation. It is therefore necessary to evaluate its occlusive effect by some parameters. In the present study we prepared dithranol loaded solid lipid nanoparticles by using tristearin as lipid matrix. In-vitro occlusive studies were performed using water-vapour permeability evaluation. Method is simple and economic. Studies revealed that SLN reduced 14.89 % trans-epidermal water loss when compared to normal formulations. Scanning electron microscopy and particle size distribution studies were also performed. Our method produced SLN having 332 nm sizes with very less polydispersity and good spherical shapes. It can therefore be concluded that SLN carrier can be an advantageous choice for topical drug application as well as cosmetics.