In vitro permeation studies of triamcinolone acetonide mouthwashes.

The effects of vehicle composition, contact time of mouthwash and cosolvent on permeation of triamcinolone acetonide (TA) were investigated in vitro using hamster cheek pouch mucosa and synthetic membranes. Mouthwashes containing 0.1% TA with and without the mucoadhesive carboxyvinyl polymer were formulated. Aqueous suspensions and Orabase were used as control formulations. The contact time of mouthwash was varied from 1 to 5 min. Ethanol was used as a cosolvent in various binary-water mixtures. TA was delivered to a significantly lesser extent to mucosal tissue by the mouthwash than by the aqueous suspension (P < 0.001), but to a higher extent than by the Orabase formulation (P < 0.001). No effects of contact time or the mucoadhesive polymer were observed on amount of TA accumulated in the mucosal membrane. These observations have suggested that the use of carboxyvinyl polymer and a high content of ethanol are not appropriate as vehicles for local drug delivery but are suitable for transmucosal drug carriers.