Transdermal delivery of ketoprofen using microemulsions.

A transdermal preparation containing ketoprofen was developed using O/W microemulsion system. Of the oils tested, oleic acid was chosen as the oil phase of the microemulsion, as it showed a good solubilizing capacity and excellent skin permeation rate of the drug. Pseudoternary phase diagrams were constructed to obtain the concentration range of oil, surfactant and cosurfactant for microemulsion formation, and the effect of these additives on skin permeation of ketoprofen was evaluated with excised rat skins. The optimum formulation of the microemulsion consisted of 3% ketoprofen, 6% oleic acid, 30% Labrasol/Cremophor RH 40 (1:1) and water. Terpenes were added to the microemulsion at the level of 5% and their effect on the skin permeation of ketoprofen from the microemulsion was evaluated. Of the four terpenes used, only limonene resulted in a powerful enhancing activity (3-fold increase over control).