A Review on Emulgel: Focus on Reported Research Works of Synthetic and Herbal Drugs

Abstract

Introduction: Topical drug delivery refers to the administration of medications directly to the skin or mucous membranes for local therapeutic effects. This method is commonly used in dermatology, cosmetology, and certain medical conditions where localized treatment is required. Topical drug delivery offers several advantages, such as targeted action, reduced systemic side effects, and improved patient compliance, localized treatment, convenient and non-invasive action.

Objective: The use of emulgels, which are used for localised action, has suddenly increased in the modern society. The emulgels have the direct accessibility to the skin for the treatment of chronic diseases such as bacterial and fungal infections, acne, and psoriasis. Therefore, the current review focused on importance of emulgel in novel drug delivery systems.

Methods: The review specifies the composition, method of preparation, characterization, routes of administration, and applications of emulgel technologies.

Results: The commonly used gelling ingredient is Carbopol and various other excipients are also used in the formulation like aqueous material, oils, emulsifiers, penetration enhancers, preservatives and pH adjusting agent and were prepared in two steps, firstly, preparation of emulsion and gel base, followed by incorporation of emulsion into gel base. A nanoemulgel is also prepared in a similar manner that is by incorporating a prepared nanoemulsion into gel matrix. The emulgel formulation is characterized for physical characteristics, spreadability test, swelling index, pH, accelerated stability studies, drug content determination, extrudability study, bio adhesive strength and in-vitro & in-vivo drug release studies. Emulgels are prepared for various routes of administration like topical, ocular, nasal, vaginal and oral. The current review presents a concise list of works that have been reported on formulation of emulgel using synthetic drugs and herbal extracts. The review also focused on the reports of clinical works.

Conclusions: The emulgel formulations can be easily recognized as the better novel drug delivery system technologies because of easy preparation, stability and technology development.