Evaluation of a new tablet excipient from the leaves of Mussaenda frondosa Linn.

Mussaenda frondosa Linn, family, Rubiacae, traditionally used in Indian folk medicine. Here an effort was made to investigate the efficacy of the mucilage obtained from the leaves of Mussaenda frondosa Linn as tablet excipient. The mucilage extracted from the leaves of Mussaenda frondosa Linn and studied for various physicochemical properties. Tablets were manufactured using extracted mucilage as the binding agent and comparison was made against the tablets prepared with starch paste as the standard binder on studying the standard parameters like diameter, thickness, weight variation, hardness, friability, disintegration and in-vitro dissolution study. Stability studies were conducted for 4 weeks periods.The mucilage shows good physicochemical properties that assessed as an excipient in formulation of tablets. The tablets prepared by using 5-10% mucilage shows the release rate in a sustained manner and that of 1% shows the drug release more than 90% within 4 h, which can be considered as the ideal concentration for preparation of tablets. At the end of 4 th week appreciable changes was not observed for the stability study. Mussaenda frondosa mucilage could be used as a good binding agent at very low concentrations. This can be used for sustaining the drug release from tablets, since the prepared tablets produced a sticky film of hydration on the surface, which ultimately reduces drug release rate and hence it can be evaluated for its efficacy to sustain the drug release.