Development of effervescent medical powder containing Maytenus ilicifolia extract Mart. ex Reissek for treatment of gastric disorders

Brazil is the country with the biggest biodiversity on the planet, but it does not avail itself enough of this potential to produce herbal medicines. Maytenus ilicifolia Mart. Ex Reissek is popularly known as "Espinheira-Santa" and in Brazil is widely used in popular medicine to treat a number of diseases such as gastritis and dyspepsia, and also displays laxative, diuretic, analgesic, antiseptic and healing properties and antineoplastic and antimicrobial activities. Among the reasons that hinder a better exploration of such biodiversity, the absence of an innovative culture draws a lot of attention, besides the inherent difficulties in the characteristics of the research and the development of this product modality. The aim of this study was developing an effervescent powder containing medicinal extract of M. ilicifolia. The methodologies to determine quality of the plant and extract including the organoleptic characteristics, the moisture content and volatiles, total ashes, extractive content, pH, and the bulk density. In our experiments, we demonstrated that the plant has been identified and has displayed the appropriate organoleptic characteristics to the preparation of the extract; we also demonstrated that the extract has been incorporated into a formulation that maintained its organoleptic characteristics, pH and content, as well as the formation of stable gases. With these experiments, we demonstrate for the first time that the developed formulation can serve as a prototype for the development of pharmaceutics effervescent product containing standardized extract of M. ilicifolia.