Novel Reverse-Phase High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (RPHPLC) Method for the Quantification of Apigenin in Ocimum Basilicum Linn Seeds (Tukmaria)

Background::

Ocimum basilicum L. seeds, is commonly also known as Takhmaria in Gujarat. It is a common constituent present in fruits, plant-derived beverages, vegetables, wheat, sprouts, and some seasonings.

Objective::

A simple, specific, precise, accurate, and sensitive method for the quantification of apigenin by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) was developed and validated.

Methods::

Analysis was carried out on Inertsil ODS-3V-C18 column (250 mm × 4.6 mm i.d, 5 μm) as stationary phase and methanol-acetonitrile (55:45 v/v) as a mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/ min. Detection was carried out at 340 nm. The retention time of apigenin was found to be 8.30 min. The proposed method was validated according to ICH Guidelines, Q2 (R1).

Results::

The developed method showed good linearity in the range of 10-50 μg/mL with a correlation coefficient (R2= 0.9998). The LOD and LOQ were found to be 1.23 μg/mL and 4.05 μg/mL, respectively. The percentage recovery for apigenin was found to be 97.75-100.5%. All validation parameters were found within acceptable limits and demonstrated good reliability in the quantification of apigenin.

Conclusion::

Thus, the newly developed and validated method can be successfully applied for the quantification of apigenin from seeds of O. basilicum L. and can also be applied for the standardization of polyherbal formulation containing O. basilicum seeds. Assay results showed good recovery when statistically compared with the high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) method.

Indigenous plant medicines for health care: treatment of Diabetes mellitus and hyperlipidemia

Medicinal plants have played an important role in treating and preventing a variety of diseases throughout the world. Metabolic syndrome had become a global epidemic, defined as a cluster of three of five criteria: insulin resistance and glucose intolerance, abdominal obesity, hypertension, low high-density cholesterol, and hypertriglyceridemia. The current review focuses on Indian medicinal plant drugs and plants used in the treatment of diabetes and hyperlipidemia. Though there are various approaches to reduce the ill-effects of diabetes and hyperlipidemia and its secondary complications, plant-based drugs are preferred due to lesser side effects and low cost. The current review focuses on twenty-three medicinal plants used in the treatment of Diabetes mellitus and nine medicinal plants used in the treatment of hyperlipidemia. The wealth of knowledge on medicinal plants points to a great potential for research and the discovery of new drugs to fight diseases, including diabetes and hyperlipidemia.

Effect of drug proportion and mixing time on the content uniformity of a low dose drug in a high shear mixer

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of reducing drug proportion and mixing time on the content uniformity of a low dose drug. Buspirone hydrochloride was used as a model drug and was mixed with other ingredients in two different concentrations (0.5% w/w and 5% w/w) in a T. K. Fielder high shear mixer at a high impeller speed (522 rpm) and a high chopper speed (3600 rpm) up to 32 min. Samples were withdrawn from nine locations in the mixer at specific time points using a side-sampling thief probe. The final blends at 32 min were compressed using an instrumented tablet press. Tablets were sampled at the beginning, middle, and end of the compression run. The statistical results indicated that the drug proportion had a significant effect on the content uniformity of the powder blend and the corresponding tablets. For this study, the optimum time to mix the 0.5% w/w formulation was after 8 min while it was only 1 min for the 5% w/w formulation. The RSD of buspirone hydrochloride contents of tablets decreased as the compression run was toward its end. Uniformly mixed blends produced tablets that met the USP XXIV content uniformity requirements.

Tensile properties of free films cast from aqueous ethylcellulose dispersions

Free films of two commercially available formulations of aqueous ethylcellulose dispersion differing only in plasticizer content (Sure-lease/E-7-7050 without silica and E-7-7060 containing dibutyl sebacate and glyceryl tricaprylate/caprate as plasticizers, respectively) were cast and coalesced at temperatures ranging between 30 and 70 degrees C. Mechanical properties of these films were measured using tensile stress analysis. Three mechanical parameters, namely, tensile strength, work of failure, and elastic modulus, were computed from the load-time profiles of these films. The results showed that the tensile strength and elastic modulus values of the films cast from both formulations increased with the corresponding increase in coalescence temperature up to 60 degrees C, beyond which no significant differences were observed. In the case of work of failure, however, the difference between the two formulations was observed above 60 degrees C. The films cast from Surelease/E-7-7050 formulation without silica (dibutyl sebacate as the plasticizer) were relatively softer than those from Surelease/E-7-7060 formulation (glyceryl tricaprylate/caprate as the plasticizer). At coalescence temperatures above 50 degrees C, the films cast from both formulations exhibited temperature-dependent plastic deformation.

Aqueous ethylcellulose dispersion of ethylcellulose. I. Evaluation of coating process variables

Formulation and process variables play an important role in the film-forming properties of coating polymers. Three selected independent coating process variables, namely, percent solids content in the coating polymeric dispersion, inlet-air temperature, and spray rate of the polymeric dispersion, were investigated in this study to determine their effect on the performance characteristics of tablets coated with a plasticized aqueous ethylcellulose dispersion (Sure-lease) in a fluid-bed equipment. Response surface methodology (RSM) was utilized to study the complex relationship between these process variables and selected response variables. Three response variables were considered, namely, rate of drug release from the "untreated" coated tablets and the "thermal-treated" coated tablets and microindentation hardness of the untreated coated tablets. A 12-point factorial experimental design was utilized, and three-dimensional (3-D) response surface plots were generated using a second-order polynomial model. The model provided information needed to predict optimal process conditions. Drug release from the coated tablets followed zero-order kinetics. Inlet-air temperature was found to be the most critical process variable for all the three response variables studied. A correlation was observed between the drug release rate and the microindentation hardness of the applied polymeric coat in the case of untreated coated tablets. The 3-D response surface plots indicated that lower rates of drug release from the coated tablets may be obtained by using high inlet-air temperature and low spray rate of the polymeric dispersion during coating.