Formulation and evaluation of proniosomes containing lornoxicam.

Proniosomes are the new generation provesicular drug delivery system of non-ionic surfactant, lecithin and cholesterol which upon reconstitution get converted into niosomes. The objective of current study was to develop stable and sustain transdermal delivery system for lornoxicam. Lornoxicam-loaded topically applied proniosomal gel was formulated, optimized, and evaluated with the aim to deliver drug transdermally. Lornoxicam-loaded proniosomal gels were prepared that contained Lutrol F68 and lecithin as surfactants, cholesterol as a stabilizer, and minimal amount of ethanol and trace water. The resultant lornoxicam-loaded proniosomal gel were assessed for stability and the proniosomes-derived niosomes were characterized for morphology, size, zeta potential, and entrapment efficiency, which revealed that they were suitable for skin application. The coacervation phase separation technique was used in formulation of lornoxicam proniosomal gel and the gel was further assessed for in vitro permeation of lornoxicam through the freshly excised rat skin and the cumulative permeation amount of lornoxicam from proniosome, all exhibited significant increase as compared to 1.0 % lornoxicam-loaded pure gel. The optimized F5 batch had shown maximum entrapment efficiency up to 66.98 %. It has shown sustained drug release for more than 24 h. The skin permeability of proniosomal gel was found to be 59.73 %. The SEM and zeta potential studies showed formation of good and stable vesicles. Thus, proniosomes proved to have better potential for transdermal delivery of lornoxicam over conventional gel formulations.