International Journal of PharmTech Research

CODEN (USA): IJPRIF ISSN : 0974-4304

Vol.2, No.1, pp 863-869, Jan-Mar 2010

Development of New Topical Formulations of

Diphenhydramine Hydrochloride: In Vitro Diffusion and
In Vivo Preliminary Studies
Vanna Sanna1, Alessandra T. Peana2 and Mario D. L. Moretti2*
1
Prion DGN c/o Porto Conte Ricerche, Località Tramariglio, 07041, Alghero, Sassari, Italy
2
Dipartimento di Scienze del Farmaco, University of Sassari, via Muroni 23/a,

07100 Sassari, Italy

*Corresponding Author:[email protected]
Office Phone: + 39 079 228734,Fax: + 39 079 228733

Abstract: The aim of this study was to evaluate the vehicle effect on in vitro diffusion of Diphenhydramine
hydrochloride (DPH) from new five topical formulations: microemulsion (A), microemulsion+silica (B), Na Alginate
emulgel (C), Carbopol cream (D) and hydroxyethylcellulose gel (E).Furthermore, the skin irritation potential and the
formulation effect on skin reaction induced by histamine were investigated in vivo. The commercial cream of DPH
(Allergan®) was used as reference formulation.The diffusion rate values showed the rank order E > A > B > C > D >
Control, and all prepared formulations are able to improve the diffusion of drug compared with commercial cream;
among the tested formulations, the hydroxyethylcellulose gel and microemulsions appear to be the most efficient
vehicles in promoting the release of DPH.After in vivo application, the formulations do not produce skin irritation and
determine a reduction of the response induced by histamine suggesting that their potential use as alternative topical
dosage forms for effective local antihistaminic therapy.
Keywords: Diphenhydramine hydrochloride, diffusion studies; skin test.

INTRODUCTION formulations for a given drug can greatly influence the

Diphenhydramine hydrochloride (DPH), a histamine rate and extent of drug permeation across the skin4.
H1-receptor antagonist, is widely used as antiallergic, The in vitro methodologies for the testing of skin
antiemetic and antitussive drug in many permeability are extensively established and validated
5,6
pharmaceutical preparations. It is usually administered . Skin from a wide range of animals including pigs 7,
orally and may be used by intramuscular or rats 8, guinea pigs, monkeys, snakes9 and others has
intravenous injection in severe allergies and applied been suggested as a suitable replacement for human
topically for local allergic reactions 1,2. skin, since they offer similar barriers to diffusion for
Topical formulations are often used for relief of the penetration through human skin of molecules 10,11.
itching due to insect bites, mild cases of sunburn, Where human or animal skin is difficult to obtain, or
poison ivy or oak, and other minor skin irritations 3. where a large number of experiments are to be carried
Currently, DPH is available on the market in few out, particularly with regard to pre-formulation
topical dosage forms, containing 2% of drug and its screening experiments, artificial membranes have been
percutaneous absorption was scantily investigated. widely employed12.
In developing novel drug preparations for topical Synthetic membranes selected for use in in vitro
delivery through the skin, the choice of vehicle diffusion experiments should usually be commercially
Mario D. L. Moretti et al /Int.J. PharmTech Res.2010,2(1) 864

available; these type of membranes have little capacity Carbopol cream (D): the EDTA and Polyethylene
to bind to the drug and also have little tendency to glycol stearate were dissolved in a dispersion of
interact with the releasing medium thus offering the Carbopol 940 in purified water heated to 70 °C under
least possible diffusional resistance13. stirring at a high speed; then the oily phase (vaselin,
For design of topical formulations it is important to paraffin and Stearyl alcohol) previously melted at 60
considerate also the physicochemical properties of the °C was incorporated with continuous stirring. Sodium
vehicles and their potential to interact with both hydroxide was added and the mixture was stirred until
permeant and membrane14. cooled to room temperature. The DPH was dispersed
The aim of this work was to prepare novel topical into cream by stirring at the last stage.
formulations containing Diphenhydramine Hydroxyethylcellulose (HEC) gel (E): HEC was
hydrochloride using five different vehicles: dissolved in water under slow speed agitation to avoid
microemulsion (A), microemulsion+silica (B), Na air entrapment and after 3 h the DPH was
Alginate emulgel (C), Carbopol cream (D) and HEC incorporated.
gel (E) and to compare them with a commercial One hundred grams of commercial Allergan® cream,
available formulation (Allergan® cream). used as reference formulation, contain
The prepared formulations were characterized in terms Diphenhydramine hydrochloride 2.0 g, stearic acid
of physical examination and rheological properties. In 26.25 g, glycerin 6.0 g, lanolin 2.5 g, triethanolamine
order to check the influence of vehicle compositions 1.8 g, and other additives and water to 100 g.
on the release rates of Diphenhydramine
hydrochloride, in vitro release studies were carried out. Characterization of Formulations
In addition, the skin irritation potential and the effect The prepared formulations were inspected visually for
of the formulations on cutaneous skin reactions their homogeneity, consistency, spreadability, phase
induced by histamine were investigated by in vivo separation and pH and compared with the commercial
study. formulation 15.
The viscosity of the different formulations was carried
MATERIALS AND METHODS out using a rotational viscometer (Viscotester® VT
The following materials were used in this study: 181, Haake, Karlsruhe, Germany) equipped with a
Diphenhydramine hydrochloride (DPH), glycerol, sensor system E1000 (diameter 7.0 mm, length 17.7
sodium alginate (Na Alginate), micronized silica, mm). About 50 g of each formulation were transferred
white vaselin, liquid paraffin, Polyethylene glycol 40 at 20 ± 1 °C in a measuring cylinder and viscosity of
stearate, Carbopol 940/Acritamer 940, hydroxyethyl the formulations was performed at a rotational speed
cellulose (HEC), from Cruciani Prodotti Crual Srl of 1 and 4. Under the same conditions, the viscosity of
(Roma, Italy); isostearic Plurol®, Labrasol®, isostearyl the control cream (Allergan®) was examined.
isostearate, from Gattefossé (Saint-Priest, Cedex, The average of three readings was used to calculate the
France); stearyl alcohol, from Res Pharma viscosity.
(Vimodrone, Milano, Italy); sodium hydroxide
solution from Merck (Darmstadt, Germany); EDTA In vitro Release Studies
from Carlo Erba Reagenti (Milano, Italy). Allergan® The in vitro diffusion experiments were carried out
cream, marketed in Italy from Italiana Laboratori using Franz-type modified diffusion cells apparatus
Bouty (Milano, Italy), was obtained from a local with side-arm and external jacket Erweka HD/T6
pharmacy. (Erweka, GmbH-Heusenstamm, Germany). An exact
amount of formulation (about 1.0 g) was spread out on
Preparation of Formulations PTFE membrane positioned between the donor and
Examined topical formulations were prepared as receptor chambers. The available diffusion area
described and their composition are shown in Table 1. between cells was 0.694 cm2. The receptor
Microemulsion (A): the oily phase was prepared by compartment was filled with phosphate buffer solution
emulsifying isostearyl stearate and Plurol isostearate; pH 7.4 (4.5 mL) and maintained at 32 ± 0.5 °C. A
then Labrasol®, water and DPH were added with peristaltic pump was used to allow the complete
gentle stirring to obtain the microemulsions. mixing of the receiving phase during the test instead of
Microemulsion added of micronized silica (B): the magnetic stirring. At set time points (0.25, 0.5, 0.75,
DPH was incorporated into microemulsion (A) and the 1.0, 1.25, 1.5 h) an aliquot (1 mL) of the receptor
micronized silica was added and mixed to uniformity. medium was withdrawn and immediately replaced
Sodium Alginate emulgel (C): Sodium Alginate was with an equal volume of the fresh buffer.
dispersed in glycerol and the water was slowly added The amount of DPH diffused was determined by
to give after 24 h the resulting gel. The DPH was Hitachi-U–2001UV spectrophotometer (Hitachi
incorporated in the microemulsion (A) (49.0 g) and the Instruments, USA) at the wavelength of 258 nm 16.
Sodium Alginate gel prepared (49.0 g) was added with Cumulative amounts of drug ( g) diffusing the surface
gentle stirring to obtain the emulgel. (cm2) were plotted against time (h). The in vitro
Mario D. L. Moretti et al /Int.J. PharmTech Res.2010,2(1) 865

diffusion rate (μg/cm2/h) was calculated from the slope RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
of the linear plot of the cumulative amount diffused The prepared formulations show a smooth and
per unit area as a function of time, in the steady state homogeneous appearance and were easily spreadable
region, according to the method described in the with acceptable bioadhesion and fair mechanical
literature 17,18. properties.
The pH values of all the prepared formulations ranged
In vivo Preliminary Studies from 6.3 to 6.8, which is considered acceptable to
On the basis of the in vitro release results, the A, C and avoid the risk of irritation upon application to the skin
19
E formulations were selected for the in vivo .
preliminary studies. It is known that the viscosity of topical formulations is
The in vivo studies were carried out in accordance with an important physical parameter, which affects the rate
the Italian law (D.L. n° 116/1992), which allows of drug release; in general, an increase of viscosity
experiments on laboratory animals only after vehicles would cause a more rigid structure and
submission of a research project to the competent decrease the drug release rate 20,21.
authorities, and in accordance to the "Principles of To investigate the possible influence of vehicle
laboratory animal care" (NIH publication no. 85-23, rheological properties on DPH release, the viscosity of
revised 1985). prepared formulations was evaluated and compared to
The experiments were performed on male albino reference cream.
Wistar rats weighing 150-160 g each (Harlan, Milano, The recorded viscosities of the different formulations
Italy). The rats were maintained under controlled at both low and high rotational speeds are showed in
environmental conditions (temperature 22 ± 2 °C; Table 2.
humidity 50-55%; 12-h light-dark cycle). All animals The data related to microemulsion (formulation A)
received standard laboratory diet and water ad libitum. were not reported because the viscosity was not
The rats were anesthetized by intraperitoneal injection detected due to high fluidity of formulation.
of urethane saline solution (25%, 3.0 mL/kg) and the At the low speed, the viscosity of reference cream
dorsal hair was carefully removed using electric (Allergan®) results significantly higher (P<0.001) than
clippers. that of B and D formulations, while is significantly
Selected topical formulations (500 mg) were applied to lower with respect to C formulation. Furthermore, not
the dorsal surface of the rats and spread until complete significant differences (P>0.05) were found from the
absorption. The rats (n = 3) were divided into different comparison with E formulation.
groups and treated as follows: Group I received the For all the prepared formulations the viscosity
commercialized Allergan cream, Group II the decreased of about 2.0-2.7 times with increasing the
microemulsion (A formulation), Group III the emulgel rotational speed. As the speed is increased, the
(C formulation) and Group IV the HEC gel (E normally disarranged molecules of the vehicle are
formulation). The groups Ia, IIa, IIIa and IVa received caused to align their long axes in the direction of flow.
the corresponding base formulations without drug, Such orientation reduces the internal resistance of the
while the Control Group did not received any material and hence decreases the viscosity 22.
treatment. After 1 h of application of the selected At the higher rotational speed, the viscosity of
formulations, the treated skin was examined visually Allergan cream results significantly different when
for erythema and edema; then 50 l aliquots of compared to the other vehicles, with the exception of E
histamine hydrochloride solution (0.1 g/mL in a formulation. The Sodium Alginate emulgel possess
solution of water/glycerol 50/50, v/v), was injected considerably higher viscosity, while the
into the upper layers of the dorsal surface, using a microemulsion+silica and the Carbopol cream show
diabetic insulin syringe. the lowest values. Sodium Alginate and HEC gels
The effect on cutaneous skin reactions induced by form a physically bonded network by formation of the
histamine were visually evaluated at different time junction zones, which are responsible for the
intervals like 15, 30 and 60 minutes, comparing the mechanical strength of the gels and determine an
responses between the different groups. increase of viscosity values.

Statistical Analysis The in vitro diffusion experiments were carried out in

All data were subjected to one-way analysis of order to evaluate the influence of vehicle compositions
variance (ANOVA) (Origin®, version 7.0 SR0, on the release rates of Diphenhydramine
OriginLab Corporation) and individual differences hydrochloride.
between formulations were evaluated using a non- Diffusion of the drug from topical formulations in the
parametric post hoc test (Tukey's test).The differences donor compartment through a semipermeable
were considered to be statistically significant when membranes involves three consecutive processes: the
P<0.05. dissolution of the dispersed drug, the diffusion of the
drug across the dissolution media or swollen polymer
Mario D. L. Moretti et al /Int.J. PharmTech Res.2010,2(1) 866

matrix, and finally its permeation through the To investigate immediate type I hypersensitivity to
membrane. All three processes make a contribution to allergens, skin testing is usually performed by using
the overall diffusion rate 23. prick and intracutaneous techniques 26,27.
For the topical formulations prepared, the tests were The tests consist on the introduction of allergen extract
performed for 1.5 h and the commercial Allergan® or histamine into the skin resulting in an IgE-mediated
cream was used as reference formulation. allergic response, characterized by an immediate wheal
Figure 1 shows the cumulative amounts of DPH and flare reaction, due to the activation of mast cells
diffused from formulations through membranes. releasing vasoactive agents, which cause both plasma
For all formulations the diffusion profiles obtained are extravasation and vasodilation 28,29. Reactions are
very similar, and a good linear relationship is observed assessed by the degree of redness and swelling and the
between the amount of DPH released and the time as size of the wheal produced 30.
confirmed from the excellent correlation coefficients To evaluate the efficacy of tested formulations, the
ranging from 0.984 to 0.998. This result suggest that potential irritation and the effect of the formulations on
the diffusion of drug through formulations is an cutaneous reactions induced by histamine injection on
important mechanism controlling the whole diffusional the dorsal surface of rats were estimated.
process. The visual examination of skin, 60 min after
Examination of the diffusion parameters of DPH administration of developed formulations, shows that
across membrane of each formulation, listed in Table these do not produce any dermatological reaction
3, furthermore, indicates that DPH released from the (erythema or edema) on the site of application and
prepared topical formulations results significantly therefore can be classified as a nonirritant to the skin
enhanced when compared to the marketed Allergan® (data not reported). Not relevant differences are
cream and decrease in the following order: E > A > B observed between the Control and the various treated
> C > D > Allergan. Significant differences are also groups.
found from the comparison of all formulations. On the other hand, some differences were observed
HEC hydrogel (formulation E) shows the greater about the effect of the formulations on cutaneous
release rate value that results about 5.0-fold higher reaction induced by histamine. The wheal and flare
than the reference cream. Furthermore, the cumulative responses were approximately circular and so an
amount of DPH released after 1.5 h resulted of average diameter of the response was used to calculate
14.89±0.19 g/cm2 and 2.98±0.19 g/cm2 from the area, expressed in mm2. The observation recorded
®
hydrogel and Allergan , respectively. from untreated group and group treated with base
These significant variations in drug diffusion profiles formulations resulted very similar. The intensity of the
may be explained based on the difference of vehicles wheal and flare responses is reduced by the
characteristics: in fact, despite to lipophilic Allergan® pretreatment with Allergan®, and with prepared
cream, the hydrophilic characteristics of the HEC formulations. In fact, the wheal produced appears more
enhance in the diffusion of DPH through the superficial, with the size restricted and a degree of
membrane. redness reduced than that observed in groups treated
In the case of formulations A (microemulsion) and B with the corresponding base formulations.
(microemulsion+silica), the DPH release rate resulted This finding might suggest that the concentration of
about 3.5 and 2.6 fold higher compared to Allergan® DPH penetrated into skin from formulations is
cream. The higher diffusion of DPH from adequate to decrease the IgE-mediated response
microemulsions is most probably due to high drug induced by histamine injection.
mobility in the vehicle, which promote a faster drug
diffusion through the membrane 24. This finding CONCLUSIONS
explains also the significant reduction (P<0.05) of drug Results obtained on this study have shown that the
release rate observed after addition of silica topical delivery of DPH can be increased by
micronized to microemulsions. In fact, microemulsions appropriate vehicles. All the formulations tested are
provide all the possible requirements of a liquid able to enhance the diffusion of drug compared to
system including thermodynamic stability, low commercial cream. Among the vehicles studied, the
viscosity with Newtonian behavior, and very small HEC hydrophilic gel and the microemulsion
droplet size 25. demonstrated to be more effective formulations for
Similarly the hydrophilic properties of Na Alginate DPH diffusion.
emulgel improve the drug permeation with respect to After topical administration, the developed
Allergan®. formulations are well tolerated and seem to reduce the
The formulation D enhances up to 1.8 times the DPH cutaneous reaction induced by histamine, indicating
release rate than control formulation, that can be that can be regarded as successful vehicles for topical
explained based on the lower viscosity and higher administration of DPH.
hydrophilicity of Carbopol cream.
Mario D. L. Moretti et al /Int.J. PharmTech Res.2010,2(1) 867

Table 1: Composition of the different formulations of DPH; microemulsion (A), microemulsion+Silica (B),
Na Alginate emulgel (C), Carbopol cream (D) and HEC gel (E)

Formulations
Ingredients (%w/w)
A B C D E
Diphenhydramine hydrochloride 2 2 2 2 2
Glycerol 22
Isostearyl isostearate 15.68 15 7.9
Isostearic Plurol 20.09 19.3 10
Labrasol 35.28 34 17.6
Sodium alginate 4
Micronized Silica 3.9
Hydroxyethyl cellulose 2.94
White Vaseline 9.8
Liquid paraffin 9.8
Stearyl alcohol 7.8
Polyethyleneglycol stearate 2.9
Carbopol 940 0.5
EDTA 0.1
Sodium hydroxide solution (100 g/L) 1.15
Purified water to 100 100 100 100 100

Table 2: Viscosity (in mPa*s) of DPH formulations measured at low and high rotation speeds
(mean ± SD, n = 3)

Viscosity (mPa*s)
Formulation
Low speed High speed

Control 7320±119 3670±200

B 3660±199 1370±198
C 10980±207 4130±207
D 1830±173 915±173
E 7322±305 3673±154

Table 3: Flux and cumulated amount of DPH released from different formulations (mean ± SD, n = 3)
Cumulative amount of DPH
Flux
Formulation permeated after 1.5 h
(mg/cm2/h)
(mg/cm2)
Control 2.02±0.12 2.98±0.19
A 8.11±0.13 11.03±0.26
B 5.84±0.14 7.91±0.19
C 5.09±0.24 6.83±0.39
D 3.74±0.12 5.30±0.40
E 10.81±0.33 14.89±0.19
Mario D. L. Moretti et al /Int.J. PharmTech Res.2010,2(1) 868

Fig. 1. In vitro diffusion profiles of DPH from various formulations (mean ± SD; n = 3).

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