Formulation Development and Evaluation of Microemulsion Loaded Hydrogel Systems with Plant Bioactives in Combination for Treatment of Psoriasis

Psoriasis is an autoimmune, long-lasting skin disorder affecting about 1 to 3% of the world’s population. Plant bio-actives like flavonoids, alkaloids, glycosides, terpenoids, phenolic acids, peptides, tannins, etc., are considered as the best alternative over synthetic drugs, especially for the topical treatment of such chronic skin ailments to avoid side effects of such synthetic agents. The present study aims at the formulation and characterization of novel topical carrier systems for the incorporation of plant bioactive molecules from the class of alkaloids and flavonoids so as to enhance the therapeutic efficacy, bypass the side effects of synthetic drugs, and improve drug localization in the diseased skin to achieve site-specific action. This work created oil, surfactant, and co-surfactant formulations of plant bio-actives using oleic acid, polysorbate 80, and propylene glycol. Different batches of microemulsions with surfactant: Cosurfactant composition ranging from 25 to 34.8% were prepared and were embedded in a hydrogel system containing gelling agents like sodium alginate and carbapol 940 to get ease of topical application in the treatment of psoriasis. These developed micro-emulates (microemulsion loaded hydrogels) were evaluated for various parameters like viscosity, spreadability, content uniformity, microscopic examination, globule size, zeta potential, polydispersibility index, centrifugation test, dilution test, dye test, percent transmittance, conductivity test, etc. The developed formulations were pharmaceutically stable and efficient.