Abstract
Aims: The pharmaceutical world has been paying increasing attention to the extraction, development and use of natural gums as binders in the formulation of solid dosage forms. The use of natural gums as binders is more advantageous than the use of synthetic ones due to availability, low cost, biodegradability and biocompatibility. In this study, gum extracted from Grewia species was compared with that fromAcacia in metronidazole tablets.
 Study Design: Ten batches of metronidazole tablets were formulated with varied concentration of Grewiaspp gum and Acacia gum.
 Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out in Department of Pharmaceutics and Industrial Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria; between January and December 2019.
 Methodology: Five batches of metronidazole tablets containing 0.5, 0.75, 1.0, 1.25 and 1.5% w/w of Grewia gum were preparedby wet granulation. Resulting granules were characterised by measuring flow and packing properties. In other experiments, five batches of tablets were formulated using same concentration of gum, with Acacia gum substituted for Grewia gum. Both sets of granules were compressed into tablets using tableting machine at a load of 27 arbitrary units. Tablets so formed were evaluated for hardness, friability, disintegration time, drug content and drug release profiles. Drug – excipient interaction was investigated with FTIR.
 Results: The resulting metronidazole tablets showed hardness of 5.46 kgF to 7.87 kgF (Grewiagum) and 6.06 kgF-8.20 kgF (Acacia gum). Friability percentages of all the batches were above 1% except for A3-A5 and B5 which are less than 1%. All formulations released more than 75 % of the drug content within 60 min. The FTIR analysis revealed no interaction between the metronidazole and Grewia species gum.
 Conclusion: Metronidazole granules and tablets were successfully prepared using Grewiagum and showed comparable pre-compression and post-compression properties with those formulated with Acacia.
Highlights
It is an open truth that man is gradually going back to nature to provide solutions to his numerous health concerns
There is significant difference between the tapped and bulk densities of either granules prepared,Grewiaand acacia gums
The flow rate ranged from 5.37 g/s to 6.08 g/s for formulations with grewia gum (A1-A5) and 3.35 g/s to 3.88 g/s for formulations with acacia gum (B1-B5).These indicate that both sets of granules had good flow rate
Summary
It is an open truth that man is gradually going back to nature to provide solutions to his numerous health concerns. Gums extracted from plants constitute the largest proportion of natural gums and are applied in drug delivery as disintegrants, emulsifying agents, suspending agents and binding agents They are useful in the formulation of immediate and sustained-release preparations [6]. Despite history of long period of frequent use, metronidazole still remained reliable for the treatment of most anaerobic/microaerophilic infections, setting it apart from many other antimicrobial agents to which resistance emerge much more quickly [10]. This is attributable, unequivocally, to its pleiotropic mechanism of action.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
