Cassia tora Gum: Structural Modification and Pre- Formulation Studies

Abstract

Background: Natural gums are biodegradable, biocompatible, non-toxic, easily available, and accessible. However, certain associated disadvantages such as low swellability, low viscosity, and flowability make them unsuitable for pharmaceutical applications. The study aims to modify Cassia tora gum (CTG) through cross-linking by exploring the free hydroxyl groups.

Methods: Borax (B), Epichlorohydrin (ECH), and 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethyl aminopropyl) carbodiimide (EDC) were used as the cross-linking reagents.

Results: The cross-linking envisaged modifying parameters such as swelling index, viscosity, flowability, sedimentation volume, flocculation efficiency, and retrogradation.

Conclusion: The study concluded CTG-ECH and CTG-B as the cross-linked gums displaying significantly modified properties. The CTG-ECH displayed better compressibility, flowability, viscosity, retrogradation, and flocculation efficiency, while the CTG-B was better in terms of freeze-thaw stability and sedimentation volume. In addition, the fabricated gums displayed distinct surface morphology which suggested their enhanced drug loading capacity. Therefore, the results of the study present their utility as novel bio-polymeric materials.