Development and in vitro evaluation of diclofenac sodium loaded mucoadhesive microsphere with natural gum for sustained delivery.

The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate mucoadhesive microsphere of diclofenac sodium with natural gums for sustained delivery. Guar gum and tragacanth were used along with sodium alginate as mucoadhesive polymers. Microspheres were formulated using orifice-ionic gelation method. Particle size, surface morphology, swelling study and drug entrapment efficiency of the prepared microspheres were determined. In vitro evaluation was carried out comprising of mucoadhesion and drug release study. The prepared microspheres were discrete and free flowing. Sodium alginate and natural gum, at a ratio of 1:0.25, showed good mucoadhesive property and they had high drug entrapment efficiencies. They also exhibited the best rate retarding effect among all the formulations. Drug entrapment efficiency of all the microspheres ranged from 80.42% to 91.67%. An inverse relationship was found between extent of crosslinking and drug release rate. Release rate was slow and extended in case of the formulations of 1:0.25 ratio (F1 and F3), releasing 68.36% and 70.56% drug respectively after 8 hours. Tragacanth-containing microspheres of F1 showed superiority over other formulations, with best mucoadhesive and rate retarding profile. The correlation value (r(2)) indicated that the drug release of all the formulations followed Higuchi's model. Overall, the results indicated that mucoadhesive microspheres containing natural gum can be promising in terms of prolonged delivery with good mucoadhesive action, targeting the absorption site to thrive oral drug delivery.

Awareness regarding the importance of calcium and vitamin D among the undergraduate pharmacy students in Bangladesh.

BACKGROUND: Calcium and vitamin D are two important micronutrients required for maintaining proper bone health. Previous works intended to determine the status of these micronutrients in local population have reported that the people in Bangladesh are at high risk of calcium insufficiency and hypovitaminosis D related health complications. Lack of awareness and insufficient knowledge of the essentiality of these two nutrients are assumed to cause this problem in Bangladesh. The present study was designed and conducted to establish a basic understanding on the level of gap of knowledge and awareness among pharmacy students at undergraduate level in Bangladesh. FINDINGS: A total of 713 students of Bachelor of Pharmacy course participated in the study. The students were asked about basic idea related to calcium and vitamin D and the disorders due to their deficiency, name of common foods containing calcium and vitamin D, their perception regarding the essentiality of the said nutrients etc. It was found that most of the students were familiar with the importance of calcium (98.9%) and vitamin D (99.3%) in bone health. 82.2% students know about the term osteoporosis. Unfortunately, 10.7% and 18.8% students failed to mention at least one food that is rich in calcium and vitamin D, respectively. Most of the students got familiar about the nutrients from their teachers (48.9%) and textbooks (32.8%). CONCLUSION: Being a student of pharmacy, the students should have more comprehensive knowledge about calcium and vitamin D. The present study indicates that the pharmacy students have lack of knowledge about calcium and vitamin D and thus it can be clearly predicted that the condition of general people may be worse.