FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF MUCOADHESIVE GASTRO RETENTIVE TABLET OF LEVAMISOLE BY USING PURIFIED POLYSACCHARIDE ISOLATED FROM TERMINALIA BELLERICA GUM

The present investigation deals with the development of mucoadhesive gastro retensive tablets of levamisole using polysaccharide isolated from Terminalia bellerica gum (TBG). The TBG polysaccharide was tested for acute toxicity and drug–excipient compatibility study. The tablet formulations with TBG were evaluated for physical characteristics like hardness, % friability, % drug content and weight variations. Dissolution study was conducted to characterize release mechanism of the formulation and data are fitted to various kinetic models. The mucoadhesive abilities were studied by different in vitro, Ex vivo and in vivo models. The in vitro release study showed that the optimized formulation exhibited highest correlation (R) value in the case of Korsemeyer–Peppas model and the release mechanism study proved that the formulation showed a combination of diffusion and erosion processes. The mucoadhesive properties of polysaccharide are comparable to synthetic polymer in all Ex vivo, in vitro and in vivo models.  There was a significant difference in the pharmacokinetic parameters (Tmax, Cmax, AUC0-∞, AUC0-t, AUMC, MRT, T1/2, Ka and Kel) of the optimized formulation as compared to standard marketed formulation, which proves the controlled release and mucoadhesive property of the isolated polysaccharide. Keywords- TBG polysaccharide, Scintigraphic, X-Ray study, Korsemeyer–Peppas mode