Skin Permeation Estimation Using Fluorescein Sodium as Marker and Its Enhancement Using Fulvic Acid

Abstract

In cosmetic industry majority of the products have site of application on the skin, therefore skin penetration enhancers are important class of ingredients for the industry. Skin penetration enhancers have been used to improve bioavailability and increase the range of actives to be administered by topical and transdermal route. Considering the same the attempt has been carried out to enhance the permeation of Fluorescein sodium using Fulvic acid (FA). An O/W cream base was formulated incorporating Fluorescein sodium as an active. Other batches were prepared which contained Fulvic acid in different concentrations (2mg, 4mg,6mg,8mg) while Fluorescein sodium was constant in all the batches. Permeation study was performed using osmosis membrane of prepared batched. The blank batch which did not contain FA showed 19% penetration of Fluorescein sodium. Whereas batches which contains 2mg, 4mg, 6mg, and 8mg of FA shows penetration of 33%,38%,20% and 22% respectively. Batch of cream containing 4mg of FA showed maximum permeation and it was selected as optimized batch. Furthermore, the permeation study was carried out on Goat skin using optimized batch along with blank batch. The result of permeation study on Goat skin showed similar results, 39% penetration in blank cream whereas cream containing 4mg FA showed highest amount of permeation i.e 77%. Hence we can conclude that Fulvic acid can be used as a permeation enhancer.