Biomedicine: 2022; 42(5): 844-850 September - October 2022 DOI: https://doi.org/10.51248/.v42i5.2016 Biomedicine- Vol. 42 No. 5: 2022 Review article Herbal microsponge incorporated sunscreen gel: A novel strategy Arnab Das 1 , Prithviraj Chakraborty 2 , Bunu Khatiwara 1 , Jigyasha Dhakal 1 , Samarpan Sarangi 1 , Simran Singh 1 , Srijita Chakrabarti 1 1 Department of Pharmaceutics, Himalayan Pharmacy Institute, Majhitar, 737136, Sikkim, India 2 Mata Gujri College of Pharmacy, Mata Gujri University, Kishanganj, 855107, Bihar, India (Received: May 2022 Revised: August 2022 Accepted: September 2022) Corresponding author: Srijita Chakrabarti. Email: srijita1989@gmail.com ABSTRACT Different dermatological disorders have different effects on the lives of patients. Recently microsponge formulations have been used to treat several dermatological complications. Microsponges are basically tiny sponge like spherical particles with porous surface having valuable and attractive effect on topical delivery. The side effect of the used drug can be reduced, bioavailability can be increased, and the drug release can be modified. Microsponges can be used in different bases like gel, lotion, ointment and even in powder form. Microsponges used in sunscreen gel are now very popular. Excessive UV exposure leads to different pathological conditions like skin burns, erythema, skin carcinogenesis, etc., The microsponge sunscreen gel protects our skin from all these skin problems and most importantly, with a very less amount of side effects compared to others. Moreover, microsponges are very much cost effective, easy to handle, can deliver minimum dose of drug and enhance the stability. Keywords: Microsponges; erythema; skin carcinogenesis; ointment; sunscreen. INTRODUCTION icrosponges, sponge like polymeric delivery systems, are used to stabilize the drug and its delivery at a lower dose. They are capable of absorbing skin secretions; thus, the oiliness of the skin can be reduced. Being inert, very small in size, and indestructible spheres, microsponges are not able to penetrate through skin (1). Microsponge delivery system can overcome the problem of unnecessary accumulation of pharmaceutical ingredients within the epidermis and dermis layer of the skin. The irritation of effective drug can be reduced by using microsponges without reducing their efficacy. Different types of polymers are used in the preparation of microsponge like ethyl cellulose, Eudragit RS 100 etc. Depending on smoothness, microsponges are different in size i.e., 5- 300 μm in diameter. A size of 25 μm diameter possesses about 250000 pores approximately (1). Medicinal plants which are extremely rich in medicinal values are used for treating several disorders. Medicinal plants have some secondary products like alkaloids, steroids, tannins that are responsible for physicochemical action in the human. Additionally, the secondary metabolites have several uses such as anti-inflammatory, anti-ulcer, anticonvulsant, sedative, anti-psoriatic, anti-tumor, anti-microbial etc. (1). In the formulation of the microsponge, the herbal extract can be used by using different methods like quasi-emulsion solvent diffusion method (1). Almost all microsponges are prepared by loading the drug into it and the best one is the preparation of hydrogel of herbal extracts incorporated microsponges. These enhance the efficiency of any dermatological agent and reduces the local adverse effects. The microsponges allow drug to be present in the skin for a prolonged period. Controlled release of the entrapped drug can be permitted by microsponges that lead to less deposition of the API in the dermis and epidermis. Microsponges can be formulated in topical bases like gel, ointment, emulgel, etc. Surrounding base can affect the extent of drug release from microsponges. Sunscreen has different kind of photoprotective agents which can prevent and minimize the damaging effects of UV rays. When microsponges are introduced into the sunscreen, it can increase its effectiveness and drug release properties also. Skin tolerability to UV rays can also be increased by sunscreen. UV radiations can cause inflammation, photoaging, and especially sunburn which is one of the most common causes of skin damage nowadays. The sunburn happened mostly to white-skinned people therefore, in the USA, 34.4% of adults are affected in sunburn (2). The skin cancer like squamous and basal cell carcinomas are also caused by UV radiation. Due to this reason, photoprotective agents like sunscreen is used worldwide therapeutically or prophylactically. Composition of microsponges Microsponge “cage” can be formulated by various polymers used in fabrication of microsponges. Different types of polymers can be used in the preparation of microsponges. However, among of all these, Eudrajit RS100 is the most used because of its M 844