Development and Characterization of SMEDDS Based Thermally Triggered In Situ Gelling Intramuscular Implant for Sustained Release of Rifampicin

The rationale of this study was to develop a SMEDDS based thermally triggered in situ gelling intramuscular implant of Rifampicin. The SMEDDS based in situ gelling system composed of oleic acid, tween 80, ethanol and Poloxamer 188. The physicochemical properties such as morphology of solution and gel, droplet size distribution, in situ gelling in chicken muscle, phase transition of SMEDDS at 37 oC and in vitro dissolution were investigated. The results showed the gelation of formulation at 37 oC and the in vitro drug release data suggest 80% release of the drug at the end of 7 days and it follows zero order kinetics. The FTIR studies shows absence of interaction between the drug and the excipients and the particle size analysis suggests a Nano system. From the results it was noted that Poloxamer based in situ gelling systems have a promising future as a novel drug delivery system for the delivery of BCS class II drugs. Keywords: In situ gelling, intramuscular administration, poloxamer, pseudo ternary phase diagram, Poloxamer 188, rifampicin, SMEDDS, sustained release, thermally triggered.