P. Anusha

A muscle spasm, or muscle cramp, is an involuntary contraction of a muscle. Muscle spasms occur suddenly, usually resolve quickly, and are often painful. The use of NSAIDs has been routine in the management of muscle spasm. Although effective at reducing pain and inflammation. NSAIDs may not be appropriate to use frequently or longer time due to their known side effects. Natural agents like camphor and menthol are having analgesic activity as well as each active individual ingredient has its own medicinal value. For greater and effective results we are using combination of camphor and menthol. Hydrophilic and hydrophobic ointments were prepared by taking 25mg, 50mg and 100mg of each agent as combination of camphor-menthol. All the prepared formulations were evaluated for pH, spreadability and diffusion studies. The selected formulations were evaluated for In-vivo studies in comparison with marketed preparations. The finalized preparation was kept for stability studies according to ICH guidelines.

In the present work, an attempt has been made to study the sustaining release property of isolated mucilage powder of Plantago ovata by formulating the sustained release tablets of aceclofenac and comparing its efficiency with hydrophilic matrix polymer HPMC K4 M. The drug compatibility with mucilage was checked by FTIR studies and found to be intact and stable. The results of pre-compression studies revealed that they were within prescribed limits that indicate good flowing property. All the formulations were found to be within the acceptable limits of official weight variation test. In all the formulations, friability was less than 1 % indicating good mechanical resistance of tablets. Drug content was found to be within acceptable limits. The formulations were also evaluated for hardness, thickness and dissolution profile. The data of drug dissolution was fitted into kinetic models which revealed that all the formulations followed Peppas release kinetics. The results revealed that the formulation F4 showed sustained drug release up to 12 hours. It also revealed that the isolated mucilage powder of Plantago ovata showed better sustained release over HPMC K4 M. In conclusion, Plantago ovata mucilage, obtained from natural source could be used as a reliable alternative over the synthetic polymers used for sustained release formulations. Key words: Aceclofenac, Plantago ovata mucilage, HPMC K4 M, Release retardant