Honey based hydrogel as delivery system for wound healing

The present study was intended for development of hydrogel-based drug delivery system with wound healing potential. The honey-based hydrogels were prepared by cold mechanical method. Carbopol-940 and Chitosan (75% deacetylated) were used as polymers. Triethanolamine was used as a pH adjuster. Methyl paraben was used as preservative and propylene glycol as an emollient. The developed hydrogels were characterized for pH, viscosity, swelling index, spreadability, drug content, in-vitro permeation studies using dialysis membrane and in-vivo wound healing activity by excision wound model. The results indicated the acceptability of the prepared hydrogels by the evaluation tests. The in-vitro permeation studies showed that release of honey varied according to the percentage of honey and the polymer used in the hydrogels. Formulation F14 was found to be the best formulation with cumulative percent drug release of 90.75% and showed greater rate of wound healing within 12 days. Hence, the results of this research work showed that the developed hydrogels can provide a better delivery system for wound healing.