Creams: A Review on Classification, Preparation Methods, Evaluation and its Applications

Creams are considered an important part of cosmetic product as topical preparations from time immemorial due to their ease of application to the skin and also their removal. From cosmetic purposes, Pharmaceutical creams have a variety of applications such as cleansing, beautifying, altering appearance, moisturizing etc. to skin protection against bacterial, fungal infections as well as healing cuts, burns, wounds on the skin. These semi solid preparations are safe to use by the public and society. The human skin is easily vulnerable to injury but it has the capability to heal on its own. However, the natural healing process can take time and there is also risk of infection especially in the early stages of injury. In such cases, medicated creams can be applied to the site of injury to speed up the healing process as well as protect the wound from infection. In this review, we have focused on the use of topical drug delivery system i.e. pharmaceutical creams for wound healing with detailed discussion relating to the wound healing process, suitable methods of preparation of creams, their classification based on their function, their advantages and disadvantages, characteristics and the various types of creams, ingredients used in the formulation of creams and their various evaluation parameters. Keywords: Creams, Skin, Topical drug delivery system, Wound healing

Risk of Infection from Application of Two Types of Pharmaceutical Creams

Introduction: Infection risk from the misuse of multi-dose medicinal products is a seriousproblem which affects final consumer health and may impact on thereputation of pharmaceutical companies adversely.Objectives:The current study aimed to trace the most important contributing factors in the infection transfer through the application of two selected types of medicinal topical creamsfor the treatment of skin disease conditions.Methods: One type of the product that was subjected to the present study is anti-psoriatic while the other is steroidal anti-inflammatory antimicrobial creams that were packed in Aluminum tubes with orifice diameter of 0.173 cm2, approximately. The simulation study – conducted on these topical creams - integrated preservative efficacy test (PET) with dose-response model of infection to demonstrate the probability of infection that could occur due to unintentional transmission of pathogenic bacteria to damaged or injured skin of the patient.Results:The studied model showed that although both products possessed antimicrobial power activity against standard strain microorganisms, yet the critical factor is the hygienic control of hands and fingers during application of the cream on the affected area.Conclusion:The medicinal products itself were little affected by microbial contamination when they were enclosed in their primary packaging materials as was observed by the in-use study. However, the most important part was that portion of the product that was transferred to the patient skin. From the simulation study, it was expected that the situation could be aggravated if the hyiegenic practice was underestimated by hospital staff.

Extraction of acyclovir from pharmaceutical creams for HPLC assay. Optimization and validation of pretreatment protocols

Three simple protocols for the extraction of acyclovir from its pharmaceutical creams based on ultrasonication, ultrasonication with heating and magnetic stirring were evaluated and compared. Extraction kinetics were studied at different time intervals (5, 10, 15, 30 and 60 min) and the extraction efficiency was determined by HPLC. The effect of concentration of aqueous NaOH as the extraction medium and the stirring speed were also studied and optimized. Best results were obtained with 50 mL of 0.01 mol L−1 aqueous NaOH with magnetic stirring speed of 500 r.p.m. HPLC analysis involved rapid separation of acyclovir from the cream matrix using a 100 × 4.6 mm i.d. monolithic column and UV detection at 254 nm. Magnetic stirring produced the best results in terms of extraction efficiency with an average extraction yield of 100.8%, n = 16 at an optimum extraction time of 15 min. The selected protocol was validated for within and day-to-day precision and ruggedness.

Raman Imaging of Emulsion Systems

The use of Raman microscopy in imaging two emulsion systems is described. Registered optical microscopy and Raman images are collected, the latter describing the chemical basis of the heterogeneity observed in the former. These examples act as a powerful demonstration of the application of the Raman microscopy technique to the analysis and understanding of microstructure in commercial products. The results indicate how the principles of Raman imaging can be applied to complex, multicomponent, multiphase systems of inherently low contrast. Such systems are of importance because they represent a wide variety of commercial product systems, ranging from pharmaceutical creams through skin creams and toothpastes. The use of a software environment for the organization, storage, management, interrogation, and manipulation of multidimensional spectral imaging data is also described. The important factors to be considered in determining the full information content of such data sets are established, and suggestions as to how such data sets can be optimally interrogated are made.

Rapid Identification and Quantitation of Clotrimazole, Miconazole, and Ketokonazole in Pharmaceutical Creams and Ointments by Thin-Layer Chromatography–Densitometry

Thin-layer chromatography (TLC)–densitometry was used to separate, identify, and quantitate clotrimazole, miconazole, and ketokonazole (alone or combined with other drugs) in various pharmacopoeial or proprietary creams and ointments. Clotrimazole was extracted from the cream or ointment with ethyl alcohol, and miconazole and ketokonazole were extracted with a mixture of equal volumes of chloroform and isopropyl alcohol. Active ingredients were separated from excipients and other drugs by TLC on a precoated silica gel F254 plate with a solvent system of n-hexane–chloroform–methanol–diethylamine (50 + 40 + 10 + 1, v/v). The 3 azoles were well separated and easily identified in this chromatographic system. The separated azoles were visualized under short-wave UV light and quantitated by scanning densitometry at 220 nm by comparing the integrated areas of samples with those of standard (one azole was used as internal standard for the other). Recoveries from samples spiked with known amounts of azoles were excellent. The method was validated further by comparison with official liquid chromatographic methods.