Drug release

Alike many allopathic lipophilic drug molecules, these natural phyto-constituents are potent, lipophilic, but pose problems like poor aqueous solubility, slower drug release profile, and, reduced bioavailability leading to inferior therapeutic efficacy. This creates scope as well as a challenge for researchers to overcome the above-mentioned problems while developing a formulation for poorly aqueous soluble phytoconstituents. Herbosome is one of the efficient techniques to improve these problems. Herbosome /Phytosome is nothing but the combination of liposome with phytoconstituents forming H-bond anchored amphiphilic drug-phospholipids complexes. Quercetin i.e. 2-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-5,7-dihydroxy-4H-1-benzopyran-4-one is a polyphenolic flavonoid with potent and diverse biological effects like anti-inflammatory, anti-proliferative, and anti-mutagenic. However, like many other potent drugs, its usage is limited due to its poor aqueous solubility. To overcome this problem, an ameliorated complex of phospholipids loaded with quercetin was developed to improve its aqueous solubility for better absorption. Thus quercetin encapsulated in herbosomes/phytosomes was assessed for the phospholipid complex formation, appearance, surface, and porosity evaluation using different physicochemical tests like FT­IR, DSC, XRPD, 1H-NMR, SEM, and solubility studies. Apart from this anti-oxidant activity of quercetin was evaluated in vitro. The surface characteristics of herbosomes appeared to be flocculent and permeable with a coarse surface in SEM studies whereas FTIR, DSC, 1H-NMR, and XRPD data, confirmed the formation of the phospholipids complex. There were 12 folds improvement in aqueous solubility of per se quercetin and quercetin encapsulated in herbosome (i.e. from 3.44 µg/ml to 36.81 µg/ ml). On the other hand, the results of in vitro anti­oxidant activity of phytosomic quercetin showed no significant statistical difference compared to per se quercetin thus indicating no adverse effects of complexation on quercetin’s availability for anti­oxidant activity. Further, we prepared tard-gelatin capsules containing phytosomic quercetin and evaluated them for drug release, drug content, and solubility studies like dissolution, disintegration, drug content, and stability studies. The results for the evaluation of the kinetics of drug release were in line with the Korsmeyer Peppas model. The drug stability studies did not affect the drug's organoleptic properties, disintegration time, drug content, and in-vitro drug release of the formulation.

Hydrogels are cross-linked polymers with the capacity to swell in a fluid medium. Crosslinking in hydrogels happens by synthetic or physical means relying upon the polymer properties and exploratory conditions. Attributable to a vast assortment in concoction structure and crosslinking strategies, different hydrogels have been set up for different applications in pharmaceutical and biomedical fields. This part starts with brief presentation, preferences, detriments, order, sorts of hydrogel are talked about likewise. They are insoluble because of the nearness of compound (tie-focuses, intersections) and/or physical crosslinks, for example, ensnarement’s and crystallites. These materials can be blended to react to various physiological boosts present in the body, for example, pH, ionic quality and temperature. At last, the part finishes up with known hydrogel applications in the pharmaceutical area.1

Medicated chewing gum, in addition to its confectionary role also has a proven value as a drug delivery vehicle for pharmaceuticals, over the counter medicines and neutraceuticals ingredients. In 1991, the European pharmacopoeia defined the intended use of medicated chewing gum as non-dissolving intra-oral drug dosage form for local treatment of mouth diseases or for systemic delivery after absorption through buccal mucosa or from the gastrointestinal tract. Moreover, medicated chewing gums require the active and continuous masticatory activities for activation and continuation of drug release. In addition, drug that is not absorbed by the oral cavity membranes can be dissolved in the saliva before being swallowed thus leading to a more rapid onset of action. Medicated chewing gums are used not only for special population groups with swallowing difficulties such as children and the elderly, but also for the general population, including the young generation. Thus chewing gum proves to be an excellent drug delivery system for self-medication as it is convenient and can be administered discretely without the aid of water. The present article highlights medicated chewing gum drug delivery system concepts including its advantages and disadvantages, composition, manufacturing processes, factors affecting drug release, its evaluation parameters, applications and worldwide marketed preparations.