Polymer blend: a new approach for eliminating curing effect of aqueous dispersion coatings

The aim of present work was to investigate blends of Eudragit® NE 30D with Aquacoat® ECD using different ratios to eliminate curing effect associated with individual polymers. Propranolol HCl 10% w/w was layered onto sugar cores using 5% w/w HPMC as a binder. Drug-layered-cores were coated either with pure or blends of Aquacoat® ECD: Eudragit® NE 30D in a fluidized bed coater to obtain 20% w/w coating level. Talc 35% w/w was used as anti-tacking agent. The pellets were characterized for in vitro dissolution studies, morphology, water uptake-weight loss, osmolality and adhesion of coating after curing at 60 °C or 60 °C/75% RH for 24 h. The findings revealed that Aquacoat® ECD coated pellets showed curing effect due to further gradual coalescence of polymeric particles which resulted into better film formation upon curing. In contrast, the curing effect of Eudragit® NE 30D coated pellets was caused by decrease in adhesion of coatings after curing which provided entirely different swelling behavior of uncured (localized swelling) and cured (uniform swelling) pellets. The undesired curing effect of individual polymers was eliminated by using their blends in appropriate ratio.

In Vitro Antimicrobial and Haemolytic Studies of Bambusa arundinaceae leaves.

Bambusa arundinacea locally known as Bans or bamboo, a perennial fastest growing plant. This plant is medicinally much famous. The biological activities of this plant were carried out by using standard procedures. The aim of this work was to investigate the in vitro antimicrobial and haemolytic activities of Bambusa arundinaceae leaves. The GC-MS analysis revealed that the major components determined in n-hexane extract were as n-Nonane (17.14%), 2,2,3-Trimethylbutane (5.85%), Tridecane (5.42%), and 3,4,5,6-Tetramethyloctane (5.32%). The disc diffusion and modified resazurin microtitre-plate assays were used to evaluate the inhibition zones (IZ) and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of B. arundinaceae leaves extracts. The plant extracts showed considerable antimicrobial activity. The heamolytic activity against human blood erythrocytes (RBCs) was studied and the % lysis of RBCs was found to be in the range of 1.03 to 4.81. The results of the present study confirmed the considerable antimicrobial and haemolytic activities of the plant Bambusa arundinaceae.