A Novel Mucilage from Ficus glomerata Fruits for Transdermal Patches: Taking Indomethacin as a Model Drug

Abstract

The present study was performed to explore the matrix property of <em>Ficus</em> <em>glomerata </em>fruit mucilage for making transdermal patches. The mucilage was<em> </em>evaluated for its physicochemical properties. Various transdermal patches of indomethacin were prepared by solvent evaporation technique using different proportions of <em>F. glomerata</em> fruit mucilage. The compatibility studies between indomethacin and <em>F. glomerata</em> fruit mucilage revealed that there were no negative interactions between indomethacin and the mucilage. The formulated patches were evaluated for physical properties, pre-formulary, post-formulary and skin irritation characteristics and they were found satisfactory. The experimental results shows that the drug release from the patches delayed in controlled manner as the proportion of <em>F. glomerata</em> fruit mucilage increased. The accelerated stability studies proved that the formulated patches were stable at stressed storage conditions. It was concluded that <em>F. glomerata</em> fruit mucilage can be used as polymer for making transdermal patches.