Phase behavior of the microemulsions and the stability of the chloramphenicol in the microemulsion-based ocular drug delivery system.

Microemulsion systems composed of Span20/80+Tween20/80+n-butanol+H2O+isopropyl palmitate (IPP)/isopropyl myristate (IPM) were investigated as model systems of drug carriers for eye drops. Effects of chloramphenicol, normal saline, sodium hyaluronate and various oils on the phase behavior were studied. The phase transition was investigated by the electrical conductivity measurements. The electrical conductivity of the microemulsion was affected by the encapsulation of the drug into the system, and the addition of normal saline and sodium hyaluronate. The chloramphenicol is used to treat the diseases such as trachoma and keratitis. However, this drug in the common eye drops hydrolyzes easily. The main product of the hydrolysis is glycols. Here, the chloramphenicol was trapped into the oil-in-water (o/w) microemulsions and its stability was investigated by the high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) assays in the accelerated experiments of 3 months. Its location in the microemulsion formulations was determined by means of 1H NMR spectroscopy. The results of HPLC revealed that the contents of the glycols in the microemulsion formulations were much lower than that in the commercial eye drops at the end of the accelerated experiments. It implied that the stability of the chloramphenicol in the microemulsion formulations was increased remarkably. The NMR experiments confirmed that the chloramphenicol molecules should be trapped into the hydrophilic shells of the microemulsion drops, which was composed of many oxyethylene groups. The nitro-groups of the chloramphenicol molecules were near the alpha2-CH2 of the surfactant molecules and the benzene rings of the chloramphenicol molecules were near the oxyethylene groups of the surfactant molecules. It was this reason that enabled the chloramphenicol molecules in the microemulsions to be screened from the bulk water and its stability to be increased remarkably.