Skin and soft tissue infections are one of the most common social problems in human community. Herbal medication is one of the best ways to treat such infections with least side effect. The main drawback of any topical ointment is poor penetration due to the barrier action of stratum corneum of the skin. To address such a problem we worked on formulation of nano-encapsulated antimicrobial ointment from herbal plants Plectranthus amboinicus and Hemigraphis colorata. These plants have antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties. Antimicrobial properties are for gram-positive, gram-negative bacteria and many fungal species. Anti-inflammatory properties are responsible for faster wound healing and anti-oxidant properties for scavenging free radicals from skin. It was found that SLN synthesized from 1:25 and 1:30 ratio were in optimal nano-range i.e. for 1: 30 - 77.63 nm and 1:25 - 48.51 nm. Combination of leaf extracts of both the plants were yielding a broad spectrum ointment and nano-encapsulation by formation of SLN will further enhance the penetration of drug into the system leading to efficient delivery with minimum side effects. Four different formulations were prepared and the consistency was found to be more in case of the formulation 4 with maximum preservative of 300 g for 2 ml of the plant extract. This work can serve as an effective new way for synthesis of ointments using Nanotechnology and combinations of compounds from herbal source in pharmaceutical industry and solve the problem associated with presently available ointments.
