ABSTRACT

Background: Glipizide, is the most commonly approved oral hypoglycemic drug in type 2 diabetes mellitus, but it is known to cause fluctuations in bioavailability and poor patient compliance due to frequent dosage and side effects.

Aim: In this study comparison of the transdermal and oral administration of glipizide was made, in streptozotocin induced diabetic (SID) albino mice, in terms of hypoglycemic effect and duration of action.

Methods: Amongst four groups of albino mice, one group served as normal control while diabetes mellitus was induced in the rest of the three groups by a single intra-peritoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ). One groups of diabetic mice served as diabetic control while the remaining two were designated as STZ-oral glipizide and STZ-transdermal glipizide (TG) groups on basis of mode of intervention in each of these groups.

Results: Changes in blood glucose (BG) levels were recorded in two diabetic groups receiving oral and TG as well as in normal control and diabetic control groups at specific intervals of time for 48 hours. TG group showed significant hypoglycemic activity when compared with orally administered set of mice. Oral glipizide showed sharp fall in glucose levels in blood in the first hours, whereas the decline with the transdermal glipizide at 6 hours was also significant but less as compared to oral glipizide. Increase in bioavailability of glipizide with transdermal application indicated its possibility for use in diabetes mellitus in humans to improve glycemic control and compliance.

Conclusion: in this study, matrix design of transdermal delivery system of glipizide, exhibited optimum and sustained decrease in blood glucose levels for 24 hours in STZ induced diabetic mice, in comparison to oral glipizide, which had peak hypoglycemic effect at 6 hours.

Keyword: Diabetes Mellitus, Glipizide, Blood Glucose (BG), Transdermal Patch (TP), Transdermal Glipizide (TG)