The College of Pharmacy discussed the Msc thesis entitled “Preparation and in-vitro evaluation of topical hydrogel containing ketoconazole-loaded bilosomes” by the student Amer Sajjad Khudair and his supervisor, Assistant Professor Dr. Lubna Abdalkarim Sabri in the Pharmaceutics Department. The study aimed to formulate ketoconazole as bilosomes to enhance its solubility and topical antifungal activity and then incorporate it into hydrogel to increase the effectiveness of the drug as a topical antifungal. The results showed that changing the formulation factors, such as the type of span, the amount of cholesterol, and sodium deoxycholate, had an effect on the size of the bilosomes and the entrapment efficiency. The optimum formula showed a sustained release up to eight hours, a zeta potential of (-54.45 mV), and the particle size was 229.63 ± 6.22 nm with a spherical vesicular shape when examined by the electron microscope. Using carbobel 934 hydrogel at 1% w/w can be considered a suitable carrier for ketoconazole bilosomes, as the hydrogel loaded with ketoconazole bilosomes showed controlled in-vitro release of ketoconazole and did not show any skin irritation, in addition to its high antifungal activity compared to plain ketoconazole hydrogel.
