Evaluation of pharmacokinetics and in vitro/in vivo correlation of ibuprofen with essential oils as penetration enhancer following transdermal administration

The study was carried out to investigate the pharmacokinetics and in vitro/in vivo correlation of ibuprofen with essential oils as penetration enhancers (PE) following transdermal administration. With Azone as the positive control, ibuprofen hydrogels containing Chuanxiong oil, Angelica oil or Cinnamon oil as PE were prepared and administered to the rat abdominal skin. Then the pharmacokinetics of ibuprofen following transdermal administration were investigated and compared. In comparison with negative control (no PE was added), the relative bioavailability values with the addition of Chuanxiong oil, Angelica oil, Cinnamon oil and Azone as PE were determined to be 161.87%, 171.05%, 151.37% and 148.66%, respectively. In vitro/in vivo correlation analysis was performed by deconvolution method and the results demonstrated a good correlation between in vitro and in vivo percutaneous absorption studies. The correlation coefficients were measured to be 0.999 7, 0.995 2 and 0.999 4 for Chuanxiong oil, Angelica oil and Cinnamon oil respectively. In summary, Chuanxiong oil, Angelica oil and Cinnamon oil as PE could significantly enhance the bioavailability of ibuprofen following transdermal administration. A satisfactory in vitro/in vivo correlation could be obtained by using hydrogel as the dosage form.