Carbomer Gels as Efficient Drug Delivery Systems for Nitric Oxide Release: Effects of Rheology on Drug Delivery Profile

Nitric oxide (NO) is a gaseous, colorless and relatively unstable molecule, with good solubility in water. There is growing evidences that NO plays a key role in wound healingprocess, but its short half-life in biological milieu is an important limitation [1]. The use of crosslinked gels withcontrolled rheological characteristics could be a good solution to obviate this problem. In our study, Carbomer (CM) was used as a matrix due to some suitable properties such asbiocompatibility. The aim of this work was to design and evaluate sustained release systems containing nitroglycerin (TNG) using CM as a function of type and concentration of CM as well as drug loading to enhance the treatment efficacy