Peppermint oil based drug delivery system of aceclofenac with improved anti-inflammatory activity and reduced ulcerogenecity

Aceclofenac (ACF), a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) BCS class II drug belonging to the class of phenyl acetic acid derivatives exhibiting antipyretic, anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities. Many strategies have been employed for improving solubility and thus bioavailability of this drug moiety. But this is a first report on peppermint oil based oral SMEDDS of ACF for achieving a synergistic anti inflammatory activity by combining NSAIDS with essential oils such as mint oils. Thus, the present investigation was designed with an aim to improve the solubility, dissolution rate, oral bioavailability and eventually anti-inflammatory activity of ACF by incorporating into peppermint oil based SMEDDS. The solubility of ACF was determined in various lipid based excipients viz, essential oils and other lipophiles, surfactants and cosurfactants. Further emulsification studies were carried out in order select specific oilsurfactant-cosurfactant combinations for plotting the pseudo ternary phase diagrams which were then constructed to identify the existence of microemulsion region. The formulations of ACF-SMEDDS were optimized using pseudo-ternary phase diagrams analysis and studied for drug loading and lipid content.The average globule size of ACF-SMEDDS was less than 100 nm and was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy. The optimized formulation exhibited about 99% release of ACF from the SMEDDS filled in capsules. Furthermore, ACF SMEDDS showed 80 ± 7.30 % inhibition after 4 hr of treatment against carrageenan induced paw. In addition to this SMEDDS showed least ulcer score as compared to other treatment group. Thus, the developed SMEDDS were found to exhibit less GI tract toxicity and showed superior anti inflammatory action compared to plain drug.