Screening of polysaccharides from fruit pulp of Ziziphus mauritiana L. and Artocarpus heterophyllus L. as natural mucoadhesives

Abstract

Mucoadhesive polymers are applicable for improving the delivery of drug by prolonging the residence time and time of contact of the dosage form with the mucous membrane. Mucoadhesion may be defined as a process where the polymer substance gets adhered either to the biological substrate or synthetic or to a natural macromolecule, or to the mucus membrane. The natural polymers can be studied to determine whether they possess some mucoadhesive properties as several excipients derived from plants have proved their potential in the field of conventional or novel dosage form. The present work aims at determination of physical properties of polysaccharides from fruit pulp of Ziziphus mauritiana L. (ZM gum) and Artocarpus heterophyllus L. (AH gum), such as mucoadhesive strength (shear stress determination), swelling index, pH, viscosity, angle of repose, Carr’s index, density, and its comparative study with synthetic polymers Carbopol 934 and HPMC and also to study its FTIR and 1H-NMR spectra analysis.