Possible use of Ocimum basillicum Linn. seed mucilage as release retardant

Abstract

Various hydrophilic polymers such as methylcellulose, PEGs, HPMC are used in formulation of sustain release preparations but the high cost of synthetic polymers and environmental pollution by chemical industry has made the scientist in developing country to enter into an era where plant products serves as alternative to synthetic products because of local accessibility, environmentally friendly nature, lower prices and non toxic compared to imported synthetic products. Today we have number of pharmaceutical excipients from natural world such as guar gum, tragacanth, xanthan gum which are used to formulate oral sustained release formulations. The present study was undertaken to study the natural polymer and explore its use as a release retardant. Various methods for extraction of polymer were developed and the yield by the microwave assisted extraction was found to be 31.46%. The polymer was evaluated for various parameters as per Indian Pharmacopoeia. The loss on drying, ash value, solubility, swelling index were well within the official limits. The release retardant property of separated mucilage was determined successfully by using polymer and calcium phosphate dibasic in 3:1 proportion using 2 % HPMC in 70 % alcohol as binder..