Transdermal Permeation of Salicylic Acid Embedded in an Array of formulations Based on Mucinated Honey across Excised Experimental Rat Skin

This work focuses on the skin permeation properties of drug formulations such as ointments, creams and gels produced using various quantities of mucin, honey and their admixtures (mucinated -honey (MH) containing salicylic acid as the model drug. Permeation studies involved the assessment of the transdermal migration of salicylic acid across excised rat skin at room temperature using phosphate buffered saline as the release medium. Results obtained indicate that formulations containing mucinated honey (MH) showed higher salicylic acid release than those containing only mucin or honey alone. Furthermore, the apparent permeability (P_app) values obtained for ointments varied between 2.036 × 10^-4 to 2.372 × 10^-4 cm²S^-1 while those obtained for creams ranged from 2.726 -3.027 × 10^-4cm²S^-1. Additionally, the Papp values for the gels formulated were between 2.5174 and 2.9368 × 10^-4 cm² S^-1. Results for the steady state flux study of the formulations showed that MH formulations have much higher values than those obtained for formulations containing mucin or honey alone. Findings suggest that the materials handled could be possible candidates for the formulation of ointments, creams and gels for topical drug delivery applications to wounds.