Natural Gums and Mucilage as Gelling agents in Topical Gel Formulation

Abstract

The study was conducted to study the gelling efficiency of natural gums (tamarind seed gum) and mucilage (moringa mucilage) using ibuprofen as model drug. Topical drug delivery (TDS) eliminates first pass metabolism and improves bioavailability. Hydrogels are dispersions of network of polymer chains in water as colloidal gels. Ibuprofen an anti-inflammatory, was chosen as a model drug in the preparation of hydrogel for site targeted action and to avoid side effects. Physical properties like swelling index, solubility, loss on drying, flow properties were evaluated. Chemical characterization of isolated gum and mucilage revealed presence of polysaccharides. Ibuprofen topical gels with natural gum (tamarind seed gum (1-7%), moringa mucilage (2-8%) were compared with official xanthan gum (1-4%), guar gum (1-3%) as natural gelling agents and HPMC K4M (1-6%), HPMC K100M (1-6%) and sodium alginate (2-6%) as semi synthetic gelling agents. Drug and excipients are compatible with each other by FTIR studies. The prepared gel formulations were evaluated for clarity, homogeneity, spreadability, drug content, in-vitro diffusion, ex-vivo permeation, skin irritation and stability studies. All formulations have shown better physicochemical properties. Based on the maximum percentage of drug release, formulations containing natural polymers tamarind seed gum (5%), moringa mucilage (8%), xanthan gum (4%), guar gum (3%) were optimized. And semi synthetic polymers HPMC K4M (4%), HPMC K100M (3%), sodium alginate (6%) were optimized. NF10 formulation with guar gum (3%) is optimized based on the percentage of drug release (27.0±0.14%) for 8 hrs, flux of (427.2±0.09µg/cm2/hr), cumulative amount of drug permeated Q8 (329±1.53µg/cm²) and permeability coefficient of (17.08±1.04 ×10-3cm/hr) when compared with tamarind gum (5%), NF1 (23.8±0.13%), (290±1.04µg/cm²), (376.6±0.04µg/cm2/hr), (15.04±0.03×10-3cm/hr) and moringa mucilage (8%), NF3 (14.3±0.19%), (175±0.90µg/cm²), (227.1±0.03µg/cm2/hr), (9.08±0.02×10-3cm/hr). The drug release pattern was found to follow first order kinetics and korsemeyer peppas release mechanism with fickian diffusion release. Formulations were found to be non-irritant and stable. Tamarind gum and moringa mucilage were efficient as gelling agent in preparation of ibuprofen topical gel but showed retarding effect when compared with official guar gum.