Abstract

The present work studied the influence of esomeprazole (Eso) on the pharmacokinetics (PK) and Pharmacodynamic (PD) of glipizide (Gli) in nondiabetic and diabetic animal models to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the combination. Studies were conducted in normal and alloxan induced diabetic guinea pigs. Diabetes was induced by a single intraperitoneal injection of alloxan (200 mg/kg), and then glipizide and esomeprazole were administered orally for 7 days. On 8th day, the blood samples were collected at regular time intervals and the pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic parameters of glipizide, before and after esomeprazole treatment were determined. The blood glucose levels were estimated by Glucose Oxidase-Peroxidase (GOD-POD) method. Esomeprazole treatment has shown maximum antidiabetic effect at 6th hour after oral administration. Pretreatment with esomeprazole for seven days resulted in significant hypoglycemic effect of glipizide when compared with glipizide alone in both diabetic and normal animals. Esomeprazole has shown significant increase in pharmacokinetic profile of glipizide in both single and multiple days treatment. Present study results suggested that, esomeprazole significantly increases the concentration and AUC (area under curve) of glipizide due to inhibition of Cytochrome P-450 (CYP) enzyme. Hence, the present study indicated that esomeprazole has potential effect on pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of glipizide.

Abstract

WHO, 1985 Defines diabetic foot ulcer as an Infection, ulceration and/or destruction of deep tissues associated with neurological abnormalities and various degrees of peripheral vascular disease in the lower limb.  Aim of the project is to study the impact of counseling on surgical patients to provide information and advice directed at encouraging safe and appropriate use of medication’s and to stress on the importance of carrying out life style modifications such as diet and exercise thereby enhancing therapeutic out comes.  Present study was done in the Department of surgery, Rajah Muthiah Medical College and Hospital, 1210 bedded multi specialty tertiary care teaching hospital attached to Annamalai University.  The impact of patient counseling on diabetic foot ulcer patient were studied and revealed that patients who had diabetic foot ulcer lacked knowledge regarding the pharmacist and their role in educating the patient regarding the disease, prescription, life style modification and adherence to the treatment schedule has been clearly revealed.  The study includes regarding literacy, cessation of smoking, providing better life to the poor patients, who are away from health centres. With increased patient load, the physicians find increasingly less time to interact with patients.  The patient counseling has been proved to be an important tool to improve patients compliance to the therapy, a much essential requirement to DIABETIC FOOT ULCER TREATMENT; The pharmacists and more specifically clinical pharmacists need to be included in the health care team.  So that the patients would derive the benefits of clinical pharmacy services and improve their quality of life.

Abstract

Natural gums and mucilages have been extensively explored as pharmaceutical excipients. These gums and mucilages are biocompatible, cheap and easily available. The present study was undertaken with an objective to find out the gelling potential of natural mucilage obtained from endosperm of Borassus flabellifer fruit. Mucilage extracted from endosperm of Borassus flabellifer fruit was subjected to toxicity studies for its safety and preformulation studies for its suitability as a gelling agent. Diclofenac sodium was used as model drug for the  formulation of gels. In the present study eight batches of Diclofenac sodium gels were prepared with different concentrations of mucilage (viz; 2.6, 2.7, 2.8, 2.9 and 3.0 % w/w) and compared with existing gum tragacanth as  standard gelling agent. The gels were evaluated for drug content, viscosity, in vitro permeation (across dialysis  membrane), skin irritation and stability tests. The gels prepared with 4.0%w/w of mucilage were found to be more effective in comparison to that of gel with 6%w/w of gum tragacanth. The gels prepared with 2.9 % w/w of mucilage  were found to be ideal and comparable with a commercial preparation(Voltaren gel®).The prepared gels did not  produce any dermatological reactions and were well tolerated by the guinea pig. Stability study revealed that the gel formulations were physically stable and has no syneresis. Briefly, it could be concluded that the Borassus flabellifer mucilage can be used as a pharmaceutical excipient in gel formulations; it has the potential to also replace some synthetic gelling polymers upon further modifications.

Oral drug delivery is the most preferred route of drug administration. Hydrophilic matrices are widely used platform for oral extended release drug delivery around the globe and most extensively studied. This is due to their broad regulatory acceptance, relative ease of formulation and manufacturing and historical commercial success in the market place. The use of extended release products offers some potential advantages in patient convenience/compliance and therapeutic outcomes. However, the range of drugs for which clinically significant advantages have been shown is limited. Prescribers and pharmacists should be aware of the costs of these products and have knowledge of their clinical use in selected patient groups. In some instances, the formulation is probably serving a marketing objective rather than a clinical objective. This article will review the importance of the extended release drug delivery system and critical formulation aspects of hydrophilic matrix technology with emphasis on the influence of polymers on their release performance. 

Heavy-metal pollution represents an important environmental problem due to the toxic effects of metals, and their invasion in to the food chain leads to serious ecological and health problems. Metal remediation through common physico-chemical techniques is expensive and unsuitable in treating large contaminated area effectively. Bioremediation offers a promising means to reclaim such contaminated soil in an economical and eco friendly way. Bioremediation employs microorganisms capable of degrading toxic contaminants or have the ability to accumulate it in their cells. This concentrated end product can afterwards be directed for a controlled way for recovery of metals. In this study Trichoderma viride was used for the removal of heavy metals like Chromium and Cadmium from contaminated soil .The tolerance of Trichoderma viride against the metals was found to be up to 200 ppm and for Cr, 200 ppm for Cd 2+. The parameters affecting the biosorption of heavy metals; such as metal concentration and biomass concentrations have been investigated. The results revealed that tolerance of about 67-82% of Cr and 73-79 % of Cd 2+ was attained at 200ppm concentration. Bioabsorption rate are higher when the cells are in stationary phase. The bioabsorption and the growth of the microorganism in aerated soil were found to be more comparing to non-aerated soil. 

The ultimate goal of any drug delivery system is the successful delivery of the drug to the body, however patient compliance must not be overlooked. Oral drug delivery is the most widely utilized route of administration among the entire route that has been explored for the systemic delivery of drug via various pharmaceutical products of different dosage forms. With conventional tablet dosage forms, poor patient compliance can be observed especially in case of paediatrics and geriatrics patients, who experience difficulties in swallowing. In response to this mouth dissolving drug delivery system (MDDs) was developed as an alternative to the tablets & capsules. Mouth dissolving films (MDF) are the novel dosage forms that disintegrate and dissolve rapidly within the oral cavity. Intra-oral absorption permits rapid onset of action and helps by-pass first-pass effects, thereby reducing the unit dose required to produce desired therapeutic effect. The present review provides an overview of recent advancements, manufacturing methods and various polymers used in the manufacture of mouth dissolving film. 

Floating drug delivery system (FDDS) design appear to be one of the most effective and rational approaches for controlled oral drug delivery. The scientific and patent literature shows increased interest in academics and industrial research groups regarding the novel dosage forms that can be retained in the stomach for prolonged and predictable period of time. One of the most feasible approaches for achieving a prolonged and predictable dug delivery profiles in the gastrointestinal tract is to control the gastric residence time, using gastro retentive dosage forms that will provide us with new and important therapeutic options. From the formulation and technological point of view, the floating drug delivery system is considerably easy and logical approach. Floating drug delivery system enable prolonged and continuous input of the drug to the upper part of the gastro retention tract and improve the bioavailability of medication that is characterized by a narrow absorption window. An attempt has been made in this review article to introduce the readers to the current technological developments in floating drug delivery. 

A novel combination of Acebrophylline and Montelukast Sodium is used in the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and bronchial asthma. A simple, sensitive, accurate and reproducible spectroscopic method has been developed and validated for the simultaneous estimation of Acebrophylline and Montelukast Sodium by solving of simultaneous equations (Vierodt's method). Acebrophylline and Montelukast Sodium were found to have absorbance maxima at 313 and 344.5 nm respectively in methanol. The method obeys Beer’s law in the concentration range of 20-140 ?g/ml (R2 = 0.9997) for Acebrophylline and 1-7 ?g/ml (R2 = 0.9993) for Montelukast sodium. The LOD and LOQ were found to be 2.46?g/ml and 7.45?g/ml for Acebrophylline and 0.22?g/ml and 0.68?g/ml for Montelukast Sodium respectively. The recovery of Acebrophylline and Montelukast Sodium were found to be 99.57% and 100.78% respectively showing accuracy of the method. The assay of marketed tablet formulation (Abrofyl-M) was found to be 99.41% and 102.26% for Acebrophylline and Montelukast Sodium respectively. The method was validated statistically as per ICH guidelines. The method showed good reproducibility and recovery with % RSD less than 2. So, the proposed method was found to be simple, specific, precise, accuracy, linear, and robust. Hence it can be applied for routine analysis of Acebrophylline and Montelukast Sodium in pharmaceutical formulations. 

In order to establish and maintain drugs from any concentrations at target sites for a longer period of time, niosomes was formulated. The main aim of this study was to formulate niosomal suspension containing diclofenac sodium multilamellar vesicle (MLVs). Diclofenac is a drug with narrow therapeutic index and short biological half-life. This study was aimed at developing and optimizing niosomal formulation of diclofenac in order to improve its bioavailability. In evaluation study the effect of the varying composition of non ionic surfactant and cholesterol on the properties such as encapsulation efficiency, particle size and drug release were studied. Moreover, the release of the drug was also modified and extended over a period of 72 h in all formulations. Different ratios of cholesterol and surfactant (span 20, span 40 and span 60) were used. The optimized ratio was 1:2:1 with highest entrapment efficiency. The in-vitro release of the drug was consistent. The time course of drugs and their effects in the body are assessed through pharmacokinetics which was provided by mathematical basis. The data collected from the release were incorporated into release kinetic analyses which are Higuchi equation and Korsmeyer?Peppas equations. Further, release of the drug from the most satisfactory formulation NF-6 was evaluated through dialysis membrane to get the idea of drug release. The mechanism of dug release was governed by Peppas model. 

Methanolic extract of Heteropogon contortus (L.) Beauv was screened for mast cell stabilization (in vitro anti-histaminic) and membrane stabilization (in vitro anti-inflammatory) effects. Extracts was also evaluated for antioxidant effect (DPPH, % RRI of DPPH, reducing power and metal chelation). In addition extract was standardized using chromatographic fingerprinting and spectroscopic quantitation for phytoconstituents contents. HC-ME exhibited good anti-hisatminic effect in by reducing histamine release quantity from C-48/80 induced mast cells destabilization. Stabilizes hypotonic and heat induced destabilized cell membrane. Findings of the above studies helps to reveals that, HC-ME not only exhibit antioxidant activity but also exhibit membrane and mast cell stabilization potential. 

Solid dispersions have attracted considerable interest as an efficient means of improving the dissolution rate and hence the bioavailability of a range of hydrophobic drugs. This article reviews the various preparation techniques for solid dispersion. The different types of solid dispersions based on the molecular arrangement have been highlighted. An ideal drug delivery system should be able to deliver an adequate amount of drug, preferably for an extended period of time for its optimum therapeutic activity. Most drugs are inherently not long lasting in the body and require multiple daily dosing to achieve the desired blood concentration to produce therapeutic activity. To overcome such problem, controlled release and sustained release delivery systems are receiving considerable attention from pharmaceutical industries worldwide. A controlled release drug delivery system not only prolongs the duration of action, but also results in predictable and reproducible drug-release kinetics. One advantage of controlled release dosage forms is enhanced patient compliance. Drug delivery systems based on the principles of solid dispersion (1). The enhancement of oral bioavailability of poorly water soluble drugs remains one of the most challenging aspects of drug development.

Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder in the endocrine system. This dreadful disease is found in all parts of the world and is becoming a serious threat to mankind health. It is caused by the deficiency or ineffective production of insulin by pancreas which results in increase or decrease in concentrations of glucose in the blood. There are lots of chemical agents available to control and to treat diabetic patients, but total recovery from diabetes has not been reported up to this date. Alternative to these synthetic agents, many herbal plants with hypoglycemic properties are known from across the world. The World Health Organization (WHO) has listed 21,000 plants, which are used for medicinal purposes around the world. Among these 2500 species are in India, out of which 150 species are used commercially on a fairly large scale. India is the largest producer of medicinal herbs and is called as botanical garden of the world. This paper focuses mainly on diabetes, plants used as Antidiabetic in various traditional medicines, constituents isolated from these plants, various mechanisms through which herbs act against diabetes and few examples of antidiabetic formulations available in the market.