Development and Characterization of Polymeric Microsponge as a New Vehicle to Deliver Urea Topically

Area of Science:

• Pharmaceutical Sciences
• Drug Delivery Systems
• Materials Science

Background:

• Topical drug delivery offers advantages like avoiding first-pass metabolism and improving patient adherence.
• Research is actively exploring topical routes for enhanced therapeutic agent administration.

Purpose of the Study:

• To prepare, optimize, and characterize urea-loaded microsponges for efficient in vitro topical delivery.
• To investigate the potential of microsponges for sustained release of urea.

Main Methods:

• Urea-loaded ethylcellulose microsponges were synthesized using the quasi-emulsion solvent diffusion technique.
• Optimization was performed using Box-Behnken design (BBD).
• Characterization involved SEM, DSC, FT-IR, XRD, and in vitro release studies.

Main Results:

• Spherical, porous urea-loaded microsponges were successfully prepared.
• Optimized microsponges exhibited optimal size, high entrapment efficiency (74.56 ± 2.8%), and favorable PDI and zeta potential.
• Sustained release of urea for 24 hours (91.21 ± 5.20%) was achieved, following diffusion and erosion kinetics.

Conclusions:

• The developed urea-loaded microsponge system shows promise for topical urea delivery.
• Sustained release characteristics can potentially reduce dosing frequency and improve patient compliance.