Preliminary Investigation of Gum from Hunteria Umbellata Family Apocynaceae in Tablet Formulations

This study was carried out to investigate the binding properties of the gum obtained from Hunteria umbellata K. Schum (family: Apocynaceae) . The gum was extracted from the pulp of fresh fruit pod of Hunteria umbellata using acetone and water (ratio1:2). Granules were prepared by wet granulation technique using varying concentrations of the gum (i.e. 5, 7.5 10, and 12.5 % w/w) and compared with maize starch mucilage at the same concentrations. The granules were characterized for micromeritic properties and compressed to tablets at a fixed compression pressure at 35 units on the arbitrary load scale. The tableting parameters investigated were tensile strength, packing fraction, friability, disintegration times, and in vitro dissolution studies. All the granules were free flowing with angle of repose < 34 0 . The tensile strength values of all the formulated tablets were between 0.53 – 1.02 MN/m 2 while their friability values were 0.65 %. All tablets disintegrated within 15 min and the tablets dissolution studies showed that 75 % of the drug was released within 45 min in all the formulations prepared. This study has demonstrated that gum obtained from pulp of Hunteria umbellata fresh fruit pod could be exploited as binder in the formulation of tablet dosage forms.