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Cissus gum has been employed as polymer with sodium alginate in the formulation of diclofenac microbeads and the in vivo mucoprotective properties of the polymer in anti-inflammatory therapy assessed in rats with carrageenan-induced paw edema in comparison to diclofenac powder and commercial diclofenac tablet. A full 2(3) factorial experimental design has been used to investigate the influence of concentration of cissus gum (X1); concentration of calcium acetate (X2) and stirring speed (X3) on properties of the microbeads. Optimized small discrete microbeads with size of 1.22±0.10 mm, entrapment efficiency of 84.6% and t80 of 15.2±3.5 h were obtained at ratio of cissus gum:alginate (1:1), low concentration of calcium acetate (5% w/v) and high stirring speed (400 rpm). In vivo studies showed that the ranking of percent inhibition of inflammation after 3h was diclofenac powder>commercial tablet=cissus>alginate. Histological damage score and parietal cell density were lower while crypt depth and mucosal width were significantly higher (p<0.05) in the groups administered with the diclofenac microbeads than those administered with diclofenac powder and commercial tablet, suggesting the mucoprotective property of the gum. Thus, cissus gum could be suitable as polymer in the formulation of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs ensuring sustained release while reducing gastric side effects., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Four natural gums, namely albizia, cissus, irvingia and khaya gums have been characterized and evaluated as polymers for the formulation of microbeads for controlled delivery of diclofenac sodium. The natural gums were characterized for their material properties using standard methods. Diclofenac microbeads were prepared by ionotropic gelation using gel blends of the natural gums and sodium alginate at different ratios and zinc chloride solution (10%w/v) as the crosslinking agent. The microbeads were assessed using SEM, swelling characteristics, drug entrapment efficiencies and release properties. Data obtained from in vitro dissolution studies were fitted to various kinetic equations to determine the kinetics and mechanisms of drug release, and the similarity factor, f2, was used to compare the different formulations. The results showed that the natural gum polymers varied considerably in their material properties. Spherical and discrete microbeads with particle size of 1.48-2.41 μm were obtained with entrapment efficiencies of 44.0-71.3%w/w. Drug release was found to depend on the type and concentration of polymer gum used with formulations containing gum:alginate ratio of 3:1 showing the highest dissolution times. Controlled release of diclofenac was obtained over for 5h. Drug release from the beads containing the polymer blends of the four gums and sodium alginate fitted the Korsmeyer-Peppas model which appeared to be dependent on the nature of natural gum in the polymer blend while the beads containing alginate alone fitted the Hopfenberg model. Beads containing albizia and cissus had comparable release profiles to those containing khaya (f2>50). The results suggest that the natural gums could be potentially useful for the formulation controlled release microbeads., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)