Optimization and Antifungal Activity Determination of Tea Tree Oil Containing Oxiconazole Loaded Ufasomes Gel Against Candida Albicans

The objective of the research work was to enhance the antifungal activity of oxiconazole (OXZ) loading ufasomes gel by using Tea tree oil. Central composite designs were used to optimized the OXZ loaded orgasms formulation with the effects of oleic acid and the drug amount were evaluated by using variables; including vesicle size and drug entrapment efficiency (%EE). Vortexing-sonication method was used to prepare the optimized ufasomes formulation by using 40: 10-OA: OXZ amount with vesicle size of 2.65 +/- 0.95 mu m and %EE of 80.57 +/- 0.29%. The optimized gel formulation (OXZG-4) shows % Cumulative drug release through the cellophane membrane was good (88.75 +/- 0.62%) compared with OXZG-10 and OXZG-9. The drug release kinetic obeys Higuchi model (R-2 = 0.993 and K-h value 38.8) with fickian diffusion mechanism. The zone of inhibition of OXZG-4 (Tea tree oil containing formulation) was found to be best 28.9 +/- 0.75 mm against candida species. So it can be concluded that the tea tree oil containing OXZG-4 formulation exhibited better anticandidal activity.