Formulation and Evaluation of Poly Herbal Emulgel for Rheumatoid Arthiritis

Abstract

The polyherbal emulgel formulations were formulated to treat arthritis from hydroalcoholic extracts of four medicinal plants: Rubia cordifolia, Vitex negundo, Piper nigrum, and Myristica fragrans (RVMP). These herbs have been reported to have excellent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-arthritic properties. Carbopol 934, Carbopol 940, HPMC K100M and Sodium CMC were used as gelling agents along with herbal extracts. Formulations were evaluated for physical appearance, spreadability, viscosity, pH, extrudability and in vitro drug release. The results showed that the G6 formulation containing Carbopol 940 by weight exhibited better physicochemical properties and better drug release (91.85% at 8 hours) as compared to the other formulations. A polyherbal blend of RVMP hydroalcoholic extracts exhibited a 78.71% inhibition of protein denaturation at 100 µg/ml, indicating a good anti-arthritic candidate.