ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF NATURAL MUCILAGE FROM LAGENARIA SICERARIA

Abstract

Development of new excipients is time consuming, involves tedious procedures and is highly expensive. Instead, identification of new uses for the existing substances is relatively inexpensive and less time consuming. The intension of the present study was designed for isolation and characterization of mucilage from the pulp of Lagenaria siceraria and explores its use as pharmaceutical excipients. Various methods to isolate mucilage were tried and simple, economical and optimum method was developed. Physicochemical properties of Lagenaria siceraria such as appearance, odour, solubility, Bulk and Tapped Densities, Hausner’s Ratio, swelling index, pH, compressibility and Angle of Repose were studied. The average yield of dried mucilage obtained from Lagenaria siceraria pulp mucilage was 20 g/kg. Bulk density was found to be 0.256 g/cm and tapped density was 0.35 g/cm³, Carr’s index was 19.1 %, Hausner ratio was 1.306 and angle of repose was found to be 20.29”. Phytochemical tests carried out on Lagenaria siceraria pulp mucilage confirmed the presence of vitamins, glycosides and carbohydrates. The FTIR spectrum of Lagenaria siceraria pulp mucilage showed N-H stretching, O-H stretching, C-H stretching, C=O stretching C=N stretching and C-C stretching at respective wave lengths. DSC thermogram of pulp powder shows sharp endothermic peak at 87.05^°C and exothermic peak at 333.23^°C. Scanning Electron Microscopy of Lagenaria siceraria pulp shows that they have irregular size and shapes. From the Study it is very clear that, Lagenaria siceraria pulp extract has wide range of applications and ensures as a promising excipient in various pharmaceutical formulations.