Formulation And Characterization of Carageenan Gels Encapsulating Amphotericin B And Lactobacillus acidophilus Against Candidal Vaginitis

The present study is concerned with the development and characterization of bioadhesive carageenan gel encapsulating Amphotericin B and Lactobacillus acidophillus, prepared by graft co-polymeriztion against Candidal vaginitis. Intravaginal gel systems based on bioadhesive polymer (carrageenan) were characterized with respect to swelling index, bioadhesive strength, percent encapsulation and in vitro drug release antimicrobial studies. A marked increase in swelling index of gel encapsulating Lactobacillus was found to be 1.9±0.35. The percent encapsulation of drug was found to be 98.63%±.0.2% and that of Lactobacillus was 91.81 ±0.01. The viability was observed for interval of 6 hrs on trypton soya agar and showed that viability was highly conserved till 4 hrs. The antimicrobial study of gels encapsulating Amphotericin B and Lactobacillus showed that carageenan gel can inhibit Candida albicans upto a maximum extent. Bioadhesivity study also conducted for gels that showed a bioadhesivity of 84.66% ±.0.5% with drug, 88.66% ±.02% with Lactobacillus. In-vitro drug release showed a sustained type release of drug from the polymer i.e. there was initial burst of Amphotericin B up to 5 hours, after which there was a sustained release upto 10 days. Thus it has been concluded from the present study that bioadhesive gels encapsulating Amphotericin B can act as promising drug carriers along with Lactobacillus against candidal vaginitis.