Formulation and Evaluation of Polyherbal Topical Anti-inflammatory Emulgel

The present study was conducted to develop an emulgel formulation containing potential herbal anti-inflammatory agent viz., tea tree oil, lemongrass oil, ginger oleoresin&capsaicin. Inflammation and rheumatism remain serious problem in the present era. Although there are number of allopathic formulation available in market for the treatment of inflammation, but these suffer from side effects like heartburn, stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, liver damage, fluid retention, nephrotoxiciy etc. It is considered that the herbal medication as safer as compared to that of allopathic medicine in the market. The herbal components like Tea tree oil, Capsaicin, Ginger oleo-resin, Lemon grass oil has been selected for the development of anti-inflammatory formulation, as from literature review it revealed that these are effective in the treatment of inflammation. Carbopol 940 can be used as gelling agent. Tea tree oil, lemon grass oil, linseed oil & capsaicin were incorporated for topical delivery system in the gel form and cow ghee was used as a permeation enhancer. The gels were subjected for evaluation on the basis of appearance, pH, spreadability, extrudability, rheological behavior, in vitro release performance, anti-inflammatory study. Two different formulations of with and without permeation enhancer were screened at preliminary level and were compared with marketed preparation containing diclofenac sodium. The anti-inflammatory study suggests that formulation with cow ghee emulgel is superior to that of all formulation including marketed gel.