Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Pharmacy - Department of Pharmaceutics

An ideal locally applied pharmaceutical dosage form should release the drug in a controlled manner as well as remain available at the administration site with an effective concentration. Proniosomes are non-ionic based surfactant vesicles that can be transformed into niosomes upon simple hydration. Proniosomes possess many advantages such as, avoidance of physical instabilities, prevention of chemical stability problems, sterilization simplicity and easy storage conditions. In addition to the above advantages, they show a controlled, targeted and sustained manner of release. For drugs delivered to the oral mucosa, it is essential to consider two significant factors; extending contact time between formula and mucosa as well as the lower permeability to large molecules.The capability of the delivery system to be retained at a specific site for a prolonged time gives a good chance for local treatment as well as systemic drug management.Oral ulcerative lesions are a group of ulcers distinguished by an erosion of the epithelium, underlying connective tissue, or both. Such lesions can be resulted from different reasons, traumatic etiology (physical or chemical), infections (viral, bacterial or fungal), idiopathic and malignancy.Local corticosteroid drugs are commonly used in the management of different oral ulcerative lesions to reduce pain and inflammation.Their capacity to adjust aggravation and resistant reaction are due to their ability to balance out the lysosomal membrane and reducing the lymphocytic exudates.Fluticasone Propionate (FP) is considered as one of the potent corticosteroid drugs. Its potency, optimized topical activity, lower oral systemic bioavailability and lower mineralocorticoid activity in comparison to other corticosteroids make it the excellent choice for the management of variable oral ulcerative lesions. Therefore, the aim of our current work was to design and evaluate smart drug delivery systems for localized controlled release of the potent corticosteroid, FP for the local treatment of oral ulcerative lesions assuring safety, efficacy and minimum systemic side effects

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