Development of phytovesicles containing triterpenoids from Samadera indica.

INTRODUCTION: Samadera indica belonging to Simaroubaceae family is being used traditionally for many diseases including arthritis, edema, itching, skin diseases, constipation, and general debility. OBJECTIVE: The effectiveness of any drug delivery system depends upon its ability to deliver the active components at therapeutic level. In this study, a novel phyto vesicular formulation for the enhanced topical delivery of methanol extract of S. indica in order to treat skin infections was developed. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The methanol extract fraction of leaves of S. indica which showed more antifungal activity was purified to separate an antifungal compound. Phytovesicles were formulated using the more antifungal fraction in order to treat topical and deep seated fungal infections. Pytovesicles were prepared using 1:2 molar ratio of antifungal triterpenoid from S. indica (AFTSI)-phosphatidylcholine by film hydration method. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Chloroform 100% fraction of methanol extract of S. indica showed more activity against the fungus Candida albicans. Further purification gave a fraction with minimum inhibitory concentration value of 15.6 mg/ml against C. albicans and showed positive test for triterpenoids. The fraction was named as AFTSI. A compound (20 mg) was isolated from this fraction at an RF value. The phytovesicle gel formulated using AFTSI showed enhanced skin permeability and antifungal activity. CONCLUSION: The study demonstrated that the phytovesicular gel developed using methanol extract of S. indica would be beneficial for treating deep seated fungal infections.

Pros and cons of phospholipid asymmetry in erythrocytes.

Phospholipids of erythrocyte are found as bilayer with choline containing phospholipid like phosphatidyl choline and sphingomylein in the outer layer and amine containing phospholipid like phosphatidyl ethanolamine and phosphatidyl serine in the inner layer. This arrangement is known as phospholipid asymmetry. Lipid asymmetry is maintained throughout the entire life span of red blood cell and is disturbed when cells enter into the stage of apoptosis. We here discuss some of the conditions in which phospholipid asymmetry of erythrocyte is maintained and disturbed and the various detection methods to check the distortion phospholipid asymmetry of it.

Development and validation of spectrophotometric methods for simultaneous estimation of citicoline and piracetam in tablet dosage form.

CONTEXT: Citicoline (CN) and piracetam (PM) combination in tablet formulation is newly introduced in market. It is necessary to develop suitable quality control methods for rapid and accurate determination of these drugs. AIM: The study aimed to develop the methods for simultaneous determination of CN and PM in combined dosage form. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The first method was developed by formation and solving simultaneous equations using 280.3 and 264.1 nm as two analytical wavelengths. Second method was absorbance ratio in which wavelengths selected were 256.6 nm as its absorptive point and 280.3 nm as λmax of CN. According to International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) norm, the parameters - linearity, precision, and accuracy were studied. The methods were validated statistically and by recovery studies. RESULTS: Both the drugs obeyed Beer-Lambert's law at the selected wavelengths in concentration range of 5-13 µg/ml for CN and 10-22 µg/ml for PM. The percentage of CN and PM in marketed tablet formulation was found to be 99.006 ± 0.173 and 99.257 ± 0.613, respectively; by simultaneous equation method. For Q-Absorption ratio method the percentage of CN and PM was found to be 99.078 ± 0.158 and 99.708 ± 0.838, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed methods were simple, reproducible, precise and robust. The methods can be successfully applied for routine analysis of tablets.