Abstract Azithromycin an antibiotic drug has a half-life of 50-60 hours and a bioavailability of 37-42 %, it undergoes appreciable first pass metabolism, has very poor aqueous solubility with an expected poor skin permeability. The aim of present work was to evaluate the effect of permeability enhancers: Tween 80, Tween 20, Sodium lauryl sulphate, propylene glycol and polyethylene glycol on the drug permeability profile using Franz diffusion glass cell. The flux and enhancement ratio calculation of azithromycin were studied. The results indicated that the steady state flux (Jss) increased linearly with increasing donor (enhancer) concentration. The observed steady state flux value was higher with 4 % sodium lauryl sulphate (27.30 µg/cm/hr) and least for 4% Tween 80 and aqueous suspension of azithromycin (control). Skin permeability of azithromycin was well enhanced in the presence of co-solvents and surfactants.
Keywords azithromycin; permeability enhancers; flux, bioavailability.