ABSTRACT:
This research aimed to develop a stable aspirin emulgel and assess its effectiveness using natural penetration enhancers like olive oil, castor oil, and peppermint oil through a 2³-factorial design. The study focused on two key factors: viscosity and penetration rate. Eight formulations (F1 to F8) were created using HPMC and Carbopol 934 as gelling agents, chosen for their ability to manage the flow properties of topical gels. Among these, formulation F2 demonstrated ideal viscosity and penetration, further optimized with contour and 3D surface plots. The emulgel contained acetylsalicylic acid as the active drug, combined with Tween-20 (0.05%), PEG (0.6%), liquid paraffin (0.75%), Span-20 (0.1%), and 0.3% natural enhancers to ensure effective drug delivery. The results were promising, with the optimized formulation achieving 95.08% drug release within 6 hours and maintaining stability for up to 3 months. Microbial tests revealed that the optimized emulgel inhibited 46.6% of growth, significantly outperforming a marketed product that achieved only 32.3% inhibition. Safety was confirmed through skin irritation tests on rabbits, which showed no signs of redness, swelling, or irritation. Additionally, stability studies proved the emulgel retained its appearance, viscosity, drug release, and therapeutic activity over time. In conclusion, the aspirin emulgel formulation not only delivered the drug effectively in a sustained and controlled manner but also showed superior results compared to traditional cream formulations, making it a safer and more efficient alternative for topical drug delivery.