The Effect of Myristica fragrans on Texture Properties and Shelf-Life of Innovative Chewable Gel Tablets.

Chewable gel tablets are an underdeveloped subject, even though there are many simple chewable tablets and gummy candies in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Chewable gel tablets are not as sweet, they can have an active substance, pharmacological effect, and a value of nutrition. The aim of this study was to prepare gelatin-based chewable tablets with Myristica fragrans as a preservative and to determine the shelf-life variability depending on storage conditions, and to evaluate texture changes. Firmness and springiness of gel tablets were measured by a texture analyzer and compared between different storage conditions and the shelf-life of tablets was established by mold growing time. Chewable gel tablets were prepared by using silicone form. Mold was most likely to grow on tablets that have been packaged in squeezable bags (after 14 days 60% of all formulations had a mold, p < 0.05). The most stable tablets (over 180 days) were in sealed boxes and contained nutmeg essential oil or its solution, or ethanolic nutmeg extract. The gel tablets' firmness increased about 4 times when they were stored in opened plastic boxes and their springiness decreased about 1.65 times after 28 days in the mentioned conditions, p < 0.05. Nutmeg hydrolat had the highest influence on texture variation (p < 0.05).

Evaluation of Beeswax Influence on Physical Properties of Lipstick Using Instrumental and Sensory Methods.

The aim of this study was to optimize the lipsticks formulation according to the physical properties and sensory attributes and investigate the relationship between instrumental and sensory analyses and evaluate the influence of the main ingredients, beeswax and oil, with analysis of lipsticks properties. Central composite design was used to optimize the mixture of oils and beeswax and cocoa butter for formulation of lipsticks. Antioxidant activity was evaluated by DPPH free radical scavenging method spectrophotometrically. Physical properties of lipsticks melting point were determined in a glass tube; the hardness was investigated with texture analyzer. Sensory analysis was performed with untrained volunteers. The optimized mixture of sea buckthorn oil and grapeseed oil mixture ratio 13.96 : 6.18 showed the highest antioxidative activity (70 ± 0.84%) and was chosen for lipstick formulation. According to the sensory and instrumental analysis results, optimal ingredients amounts for the lipstick were calculated: 57.67% mixture of oils, 19.58% beeswax, and 22.75% cocoa butter. Experimentally designed and optimized lipstick formulation had good physical properties and high scored sensory evaluation. Correlation analysis showed a significant relationship between sensory and instrumental evaluations.

New formula herbal pellets demonstrate a uniform and stable release of the active ingredients in vitro.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of different capsule filling manufacturing techniques and storage conditions on the release of the active ingredients from herbal capsules during the dissolution test in vitro. Different techniques for the preparation of the original mixture of dry extracts were applied, and subsequently capsules with six different fillings were prepared. The stability of the capsules was evaluated in different long-term storage conditions, registering changes in the water content (loss of drying), capsule disintegration time, and phenolic compounds dissolution test in vitro. The baseline of phenolic compounds release in the control capsules (filled with the mixture of the powder of dry herbal extracts) was the highest, compared to other capsule groups, yet during long-term storage, these capsules accumulated too much moisture, which impeded capsule disintegration time and phenolic compounds release. The study showed that moisture and temperature changes occurring during the storage of the preparation had a negative effect on the release of phenolic compounds from herbal capsules. Capsules filled with pellets demonstrated a uniform and stable release of the active ingredients in different long-term storage conditions, which indicates that the manufacturing technology of dry herbal extracts affects the stability of the active ingredients.

Antiradical activities of the extract of Passiflora incarnata.

The objective of this work was to investigate the aqueous and ethanolic extracts of passionflower and the influence of the flavonoids they contain on the antiradical activity by DPPH* and ABTS* + methods. The data show that the Passiflora extract has not only sedative but also antiradical activity. The ethanol extract catches free radicals more effectively than the water extract. The strongest antiradical effect among the investigated flavonoids (chlorogenic acid, hyperosid, isovitexin, caffeic acid, quercetin, luteolin, orentin, rutin, scutelarein, vicenin and vitexin) was predetermined by vicenin, isovitexin and orentin. The antiradical activity increases with the increase of the concentration of the mentioned materials.

The qualitative analysis of ethanol extracts of herbal raw materials by method of high pressure liquid chromatography.

The article describes the qualitative analysis of ethanol extracts from St. John's wort, cinnamon bark, rosemary leaves, lavender flowers, and ginger rhizomes, and the extract of their mixture using the method of high pressure liquid chromatography in order to identify flavonoids. The aim of the study was to identify the amounts of rutin, hyperoside, quercetin, and other flavonoids in the multi-component extract as well as in the control extracts of its compositional parts using the method of high pressure liquid chromatography, by evaluation of the correlation between the amounts of flavonoids in the extracts. The evaluation of the results of the study showed that flavonoid amount in the control extracts of the herbal material and flavonoid amount in the ethanol extracts of the mixture of raw material did not differ significantly. It was found that the largest amount of flavonoids was extracted from St. John's wort. The results of the analysis confirmed the assumption that the yield of flavonoids from St. John's wort has no influence on the active substance of other medicinal herbal raw materials.

[Technology for tablets with herbal extracts and evaluation of its quality]. / Tableciu su augaliniais ekstraktais technologijos kurimas ir kokybes ivertinimas.

The article deals with the development of technology for production of tablets containing dry herbal extracts. Dry herbal extracts of two different compositions were produced by spray drying using BUCHI 190 apparatus. The quality of dry extracts was evaluated by determination the loss of extract mass during the drying process, and estimation of the amount of biologically active combinations. The tableting methods for dry herbal extracts--direct compression and also employing granulation--were used. The quality of the produced tablets was determined by examining their appearance, resistance to abrasion, crushing strength, mass uniformity, disintegration time. Contents of biologically active compounds in tablets were evaluated by the quantitative methods.

[Development of "Saules" tincture technology]. / "Saules" tinkturos technologijos kurimas.

The article deals with the production of the "Saules" tincture in a way of selecting an extractive agent concentration, the size of particles of the raw material and the method of extraction. The experiment indicates that the optimum concentration of ethanol in the tincture is 70% V/V, the particles' size is in the range from 1 to 2 mm; the production method recommended for use is percolation. The quality of the tincture was evaluated by determining the quantity of flavonoids and dry residue, the concentration of the ethanol, the density and the microbial contamination. The presence of quercetin, rutin and hyperoside was confirmed using high-pressure liquid chromatography. The stability of the tincture was evaluated.