Abstract
Bacterial conjunctivitis requires treatment of antibiotics for almost a week. It may result in poor patient compliance with conventional dosage forms due to greater frequency of drug administration. Some dosage regimens are 2-3 drops every 2-3 hours. The excessive drug loss is exhibited by conventional formulations in the cul-de-sac upon instillation. The thermosensitive Chitosan/Pluronic in-situ gel loaded with Gatifloxacin, used for bacterial conjunctivitis, exhibited sol-gel transition upon instillation. The formulation prepared by polymer mixing exhibited bioadhesive and gelling properties. The selected independent variables were percentage of Pluronic F127 (A) and percentage of Chitosan (B) and dependent variables were gelling temperature and bioadhesive strength. This temperature triggered gelling system was prepared with the objectives of increasing contact time, achieving controlled release, reducing the frequency of administration and obtaining greater therapeutic efficacy of the drug. The characterization showed that all formulations had clarity, variation in gelling capacity. Other physical properties like pH, viscosity and drug content were found to be varying from 7.1-7.7, 240-410 cps, and 84.62-96.83% respectively. Therefore, the formulation having 0.3%w/v chitosan and 20% w/v Pluronic F127 exhibited the critical gelling temperature at 37°C and bioadhesion strength of 4.0 g/cm2. This formulation showed better sustained drug release i.e. 75.10% drug release for period of 10 hours.
