Pranali Khedkar

The aim of the current study was to isolate mucilage from five different plants, which was done by maceration, followed by incorporating the extracted mucilage into a tablet formulation and to study its disintegrant property. Comparative results were obtained and varying degree of disintegrant action was observed among the five subject plant sources. It was found that Lepidum sativum seeds showed the highest yield of 12.5%w/w as compared to the remaining four plant products. Additionally, the disintegration time of tablets formulated from mucilage obtained from Lepidum sativum was found to be the least and the tablets disintegrated in 25 seconds. Mucilages are very hydrophilic and are capable of trapping water in their cage-like structures to form a gel. Consequently, when mucilage is mixed with water it swells to many times its original volume as it absorbs water1. Mucilages find applications in numerous pharmaceutical preparations and perform their role as disintegrants, sustained-release agents, binders, mucoadhesives, to name a few2.