Abstract:
Globally, infectious diseases are among the top ten significant contributors to large number of fatalities
affecting both developed and developing countries evenly. It has been challenging to treat infections
like skin infections due to the global trend of developing antibiotic resistance. In context of this,
antibiotics that are effective against both gram-positive and gram-negative organisms and have a long
half-life as well as high tissue permeability are needed. Cefepime, a member of the fourth generation
intravenous cephalosporins, is one such antibiotic. However, the intravenous administration of drug has
restricted the supply of drug to the intended area i.e., skin, instead reaches directly to the blood.
This draws attention to the significance of developing a drug delivery system that stays at the skin surface
while regulating drug absorption, boosts the drug's bioavailability, and lessens the requirement for
frequent drug usage. The current research focuses on developing a chitosan nano-carrier using the ionic
gelation method, subsequently transformed into carbopol gel for more effective, longer-lasting skin drug
release. SEM analysis shows the spherical morphology of chitosan/alginate nanoparticles with sizes of
156±12.75nm and 222±56nm for both blank and drug-loaded nanoparticles, respectively. Positive
zetapotential i.e., 18.2mV indicates polycationic chitosan matrix of the nano-capsules. Finally, the in-vitro
drug release study manifested controlled drug release at two different pH (5.5 and 7.4) for a period of
24h. Furthermore, antibacterial activity of nano-formulation as well as the gel was observed against both
+Ve and -Ve bacterial strains with better zones of inhibition. The obtained data significantly pointed out
that the cefepime nanoparticles loaded carbopol gel would be an encouraging choice for skin infections.
