DESIGNING, DEVELOPMENT AND IN-VITRO FUNCTIONALITY ASSESSMENT OF ANTICANADIAL MUCOADHESIVE VAGINAL GEL: A NOVEL THERAPEUTIC APPROACH

Background: Candida albicans is the most commonly detected yeast in patient samples.Vaginal thrush, or vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC), results from the excessive growth of C. albicans in the vagina.The formation of C. albicans biofilms presents a significant challenge in treating candidiasis due to their resistance to conventional antifungal drugs.Research indicates that Fluconazole (FCZ) resistant C. albicans requires novel treatments, either as standalone therapies or in combination with FCZ.FCZ and Quercetin (QCT) may work synergistically to effectively treat resistant C. albicans infections.This study addressed the issue by developing mucoadhesive in-situ vaginal gel formulations containing both fluconazole (FCZ) and quercetin (QCT), aimed at the treatment of resistant strains of Candida albicans.The mucoadhesive vaginal gel formulation was developed and optimized using 3 2 Full Factorial Design (FFD) with reference to optimization of mucoadhesive and thermosensitive polymers.The optimized batch consists of a thermosensitive polymer composed of PLX188 (10%w/w) and PLX407 (25.51%w/w), as well as mucoadhesive polymers, namely HPMCK4M (0.82%w/w).The formulation has an appropriate viscosity and gel strength, making it ideal for the desired phase transition