The development of an in-situ fast gelling vehicle for ophthalmic drug delivery based on methylcellulose (MC) was studied. The gelation temperature of 1 % MC was 59 degrees C. Additives such as fructose and sodium citrate tribasic dihydrate (SC) were added in different proportions to recluse the gelation temperature of MC from 59 degrees C to the physiological temperature i.e. 37 degrees C. With the variation of fructose concentration from 2 to 10% at constant 1% MC concentration, the gel temperature was reduced from 59 to 54 degrees C. To reduce the gelation temperature of MC further, SC was added in the system where the concentration of MC and fructose (10%) were kept constant. It was observed that with the variation of SC concentration from 1 to 5%, the sol-gel transition temperature was further lowered from 54 to 32 degrees C. The gel temperature of all the combinations was measured by test tube tilting method and followed by UV-vis spectroscopy. The developed formulation corresponding to gelation temperature 32 degrees C provided sustained release of Ketorolac Tromethamine (KT) over a 9 h period. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 113: 1241-1246, 2009